


Those hardest to love, need it most.

by Worldclassbeauty



Category: Killing Eve (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Divorce, F/F, Mutual Pining, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, soft!villanelle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-03-04 21:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 34,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18820657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Worldclassbeauty/pseuds/Worldclassbeauty
Summary: Throughout her life Eve had grown to expect the unexpected. This she did not expect.





	1. what to expect when you're expecting.

Throughout her life Eve had grown to expect the unexpected, her father dying after getting struck by lightning while walking their dog. Her mother uprooting her from America and moving back to London at the age of 16. Losing her virginity to an unnamed House of Lords members son. But if there was one thing, she really didn’t expect it was this. Here she was in her big empty house sitting on the floor of the bathroom in her underwear, 41 years of age, about to be divorced and pregnant. How had that happened.  
She remembered the last time her and Niko had slept together, the best time she´d ever had with him to be honest. He had been aggressive, scary, rough. While it hadn´t been everything she wanted it was an improvement, she could live with it. But he couldn’t, it had frightened him how his wife wanted to get fucked, after 12 years of marriage he had no idea who this woman was.  
He hadn’t told her that after she fell asleep, she spoke in her dreams. She said Villanelle. But that had been the final nail in the coffin for him. He had to divorce her. When he had served her the papers she had reacted badly and demanded that he’d leave. Which he had, Eve assumed that he stayed with Gemma. That was it he had vanished from her life, just like that, a 16-year relationship over. 

It had been 11 weeks since then.  
11 weeks Eve thought. she was more than 2 months pregnant.  
Eve stood up, regardless she had to do something, she couldn’t just sit on the floor and hope it was a bad dream.  
She picked up her phone from the sink. 

Two texts.  
Anne Bonny 09:23  
Where are you? Big Boss it is talking about some case it sounds important.  
Anne Bonny 10:07  
Hey, Kill Commander, are you okay? 

Eve looked at the time 11:42 it had been more than an hour since Villanelle send the last text. She should probably reply before they send a search party out to find her.  
She texted Villanelle that she was feeling a bit sick and would be staying home. 

A vomiting emoji and a thumbs up emoji were all she received as a reply. 

She called the doctor and made an appointment for the same day at 16:30. She hung around the house for a few hours, before taking a shower and getting dressed.  
\--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 

The Doctors waiting room was cold and sterile considering the dealt mainly with pregnant women it seemed a bit off target.  
“Mrs. Poultry” The nurse incorrectly called out across the room.  
Eve sighed and stood up, taking her belongings with her.  
The gynecologist preforming the scan was pretty, she had nothing on Villanelle, but pretty non the less. Eve caught herself thinking.  
“And there it your baby” the doctor said, and Eve was slammed back into reality with that one-word baby. Her child. She had a living person inside of her, and not in the sexy way.  
“You hear that? That is baby´s heartbeat” the Doctor turned up the sound on the machine while talking.  
“I…it.. eh it's very fast” Eve commented  
“That is normal babies hearts beats almost twice as fast as adults'.”  
“How long… how far along am I?” Eve asked  
“Just around 11 weeks” was the reply “you are small of nature and because this is your first pregnancy you aren’t showing a lot.”  
“And what are my options?” Eve asked tentatively.  
If the Doctor judged her, she kept it to herself and simply replied in the same tone that abortion was legal in the UK up till 24 weeks barring any life-threatening complications.  
Eve nodded and accepted the pamphlet on abortion the Doctor handed to her.  
While printing some pictures out for Eve the Doctor spoke.  
“I would like for you to come back sometime during the next 4 weeks for a check-up, your age is a little bit of a risk factor and I would like to keep an eye on you. Should you decide not to keep it please call and make an appointment here. We will take great care of you either way.”  
The Doctor gave her the pictures.  
“I will let you get dressed” 

So here Eve was in a paper gown at a Women's health clinic with a pamphlet on abortion in one hand and a sonogram of the baby growing within her in the other. God she wanted a glass of wine and a cigarette.  
On the way home on the Tube all she saw were pregnant women and small children some were well behaved, and others were soul sucking demons. 

“Emily, Emily don't bother the lady” She heard an exasperated mother plead at a young girl, 5-6 years old stood in front of her.  
“Are you Mulan?” the girl, Emily, asked with wonder and childlike innocence in her eyes.  
“No, my hair is much curlier than Mulan’s” Eve said shortly, she really wasn`t good with children.  
“I`m so sorry, Mulan is her favorite princess right now” the mother politely explained.  
Eve wanted to tell the mother that she was of Korean descent not Chinese, that Mulan wasn´t a princess and that the “real” Mulan was a warrior and would frown at being called a princess. That the “real” Mulan was with the army, living as a man for 12 years. And Eve wasn’t sure the strait-laced Christian looking woman could handle such a conversation on gender identity with her daughter.  
But she simply smiled and said nothing. 

When she got home, she put the pamphlet and the pictures on the counter and poured herself a glass of her favorite red wine and ordered the best take out she could get. Steak and potatoes with oven-baked vegetables and hollandaise sauce. At 19:34 her doorbell rang when she opened, she was surprised to find Villanelle holding her takeout and a bottle of her usual champagne.  
“You look terrible, I hope I don't catch what you have” Villanelle said while making her way into the hallway to take off her shoes.  
“How did you get a hold of my food? The delivery system is supposed to be secure?” Eve asked, it was pointless she knew, how ever Villanelle had done it was, at best, illegal.

“Finn, the guy handling the delivery system is cheating on his wife with a 17-year-old boy from his youth chess group.” Villanelle said in lieu of an answer.  
It was only once Villanelle had made her way into the kitchen to put down the food Eve realized that she had put the pictures and the pamphlet on the counter, laying freely for Villanelle to see.  
And see it she did. 

“Ah I see you have gotten a parasite” was the only thing she said.  
Eve nodded wordlessly  
“It is moustaches' yes? Unless you are more liberated that I thought” 

Once again Eve only nodded.  
“Are you keeping it or exercising your hard won right to choose?” Villanelle asked 

Eve shrugged and swirled her untouched wine in it's glass. 

“At least I won’t catch what you have” Villanelle joked. 

They didn’t talk about it for the rest of the evening.  
After they´d eaten Eve got up to clear the plates but Villanelle stopped her.  
“You should rest” it was almost kind, the way she said it.  
“V, will you stay with me tonight?” Eve asked  
“Are you propositioning me for sex? You are 16 years my senior and my boss! It is outrageous” Villanelle said in a scandalized tone, her slight smile giving her away.  
“Don´t be a dick. It´s late and instead to driving to the other end of town I was wondering if you wanted to stay”  
“I sleep nude” Villanelle said with a flirty smile.  
“Liar”  
“And how would you know this?”  
“…”  
“I shall sleep naked tonight to prove it then”  
“if you sleep naked you will be sleeping on the couch” Eve stated  
“… So if I do not sleep naked I can sleep with you, on the bed?” Villanelle said in a low tone.  
Eve got the nagging feeling that she had played right into Villanelle's trap.  
“Yes, you can sleep on the bed with me, if you wear clothes” Eve finally said.  
After watching Marley & Me, Villanelle laughing throughout the entire thing, thinking it was a comedy, they got ready for bed.  
Eve changed in the bedroom and Villanelle in the bathroom. 

After stripping down to her panties Eve stood there looking at herself in the mirror, she wasn’t showing, yet. Would it make it better if she was? Would it make it worse? She hesitantly touched her stomach, right where the Doctor had placed the ultrasound wand. That was a baby in there, hers and Nikos. Oh God Niko, he didn’t know. Should she tell him?  
Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a warm soft hand covering her own on her stomach.  
“… you will get fat” Villanelle said. It sounded like she wanted to say something else but decided against it.  
“I still don´t know if I’m keeping it” Eve said completely honest.  
Villanelle didn’t say anything. She simply ran her hands slowly up the sides of Eve body before cupping both her naked breast.  
“But your tits will get so big” she said with wonder and excitement in her voice.  
Eve couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her lips at the comment. She wiggled out of Villanelle arms and put on sleeping shorts and an old Connecticut Huskies t-shirt.  
When the laid down on the bed Villanelle pulled Eve close and placed her head on Eve's shoulder. snuggling into her.

“I had a parasite too” Villanelle said softly.


	2. Муж да жена́ -- одна́ сатана́.

Eve’s brain went into overdrive. Villanelle had been pregnant at some point? When? With whom? What had happened? How had she reacted? Eve wanted to grill Villanelle about all of it, but knowing Villanelle pressing her would only make her shut down completely. 

“… I’m sorry to hear that” Eve said keeping her expression neutral.  
“3 years ago, I was living in Århus, Denmark. I don’t even remember the guy, just that I was during the world cup in football and I was apparently a fan of the winning team because I got very drunk to celebrate.” 

“what did you do with…eh… the parasite” Eve asked.  
“I went on mission to Stavanger an got kicked hard in the stomach by a target.” Villanelle said and let Eve draw her own conclusion.  
Eve looked at Villanelle’s face, studied it for a few moments. Villanelle was lying. Not about getting pregnant maybe not even about getting kicked in the stomach in Norway. But she was lying by omission. There was more to that story.

Villanelle hand had found its way under Eve’s shirt and was lazily tracing patterns on the bare skin. She was deep in thought.  
Villanelle didn’t know why she had told Eve that bit of information. Why she had exposed herself like that. No one knew about the pregnancy, not even Konstantin. Villanelle had not wanted a baby, she had been 22 at the time and only just began her career as an international assassin. Not only that but she was a far cry from the ideal caring mother. 

“I am not normal” Villanelle said without looking up. “I am jealous and easily bored and least we forget, a psychopath. Not at all suitable for raising a baby” 

Eve didn’t know if Villanelle meant past or present tense. Was she talking about her own pregnancy or Eve’s?  
“Villanelle, I don’t know what to do here. I can’t do this alone, should I get back with Niko?” Eve knew she was being manipulative in asking the question. She had no intention of getting back with her ex-husband, but she wanted to force a reaction out of the assassin. And Villanelle didn’t disappoint her. 

“Moustache! No, you are not getting back together with that Гандон” Villanelle tightened her grip on Eve as she spoke. “you are mine now and I will not allow it” 

Eve had to stop herself from smiling at that. Villanelle had admitted to liking her before and had a certain brand of possessiveness that was just adorable. It should have scared her, would have scared normal people, just how possessive Villanelle had gotten of Eve. But Eve didn’t have many friends and as long at it didn’t interfere with her work she didn’t really care. 

“Eve” Villanelle’s tone was serious this time. “I am not good at sharing, I am not good at sharing your attention, I would get jealous and I- I am not sure if I would hurt the baby. I have killed children before” 

Villanelle had referred to the boy in the French hospital. The one who had lost his entire family and half his face. The one who wanted to die. The mercy kill. 

But Eve didn’t know that. 

Eve nodded and kept silent for a full minute before speaking.  
“I know what you are Oksana, I am not blind or delusional to the fact that you are a killer, who likes it just a bit too much. I know you as much as you’d let anyone know you”  
Eve turned to look her in the eye.  
“But I also know that I’ve never felt safer with anyone. I know that you love me, in you own way”  
At this Villanelle looked away. Eve continued  
“And I know you’d never let any harm come to me and I know that would extend to the baby” 

As soon as she spoke Villanelle got out of bed.  
“You have decided to keep it then?” it wasn’t a question.  
But before Eve could formulate an answer Villanelle had left the bedroom and a few moments later she heard the front door slam shut. 

Villanelle had left. 

Eve didn’t see Villanelle again for a week. She hadn’t been worried in the beginning. It was Villanelle after all but when the week was ending no one had heard a word from her. Not even Konstantin.  
At they were leaving the office Eve cornered him. 

“Have you heard from her?” no need for small talk.  
“No, but no worries she does this from time to time” he said with is ever present smile.  
“No, I- eh we got in a fight” Eve admitted.  
“You fought? That’s not very ladylike” He laughed  
“Not like that” she paused to check that they were alone before continuing. “I’m pregnant and Villanelle didn’t react well to the news”  
“… oh! No she would not take such information well. Poor you Любовь зла, полюбишь и козла” He spoke kindly  
“So how do I find her?” Eve asked desperately, ignoring the Russian he spoke. 

“You don’t. There is old Russian proverb ‘A girl is like a shadow. Follow her, then she flees. flee, she follows you’”  
“What? That makes no sense I need to find her to talk to her”  
“Eve, I say this as friend. Villanelle will come back when she is ready”  
“And if she doesn’t?” 

“Let me ask you. If she was pregnant and wanted to keep it would you stay with her?” his tone was duller now.  
“I- yes I would. It wouldn’t be boring at least” Eve answered honestly.  
“Exactly, Муж да жена́ -- одна́ сатана́, how do you say- the devil’s wife is also a witch” He said  
“…What?”  
“It’s more profound in Russian. It means that husbands and wives… or wives and wives I guess, are often the same. You’d come back to her and she’d come back to you.”

Surprisingly that clamed Eve a bit.  
And he had been right. When she got home that evening the lights were on inside the house. She remembered fledgling that she never gave Villanelle a key. She just keeps breaking in somehow.  
When she entered the house she looked into the living room and was choked. Villanelle stood there carefully painting and old wooden crib white. 

“V, what is going on?” she asked  
“Eve, you are home! This is my crib, from Russia, if you are keeping the baby it needs a place to sleep, it is bad habit to let it sleep in the bed with you” she said as if the was the most obvious thing in the world. As if she hadn’t been gone for a week.  
“You went to Russia to get it?” Eve asked stepping closer to the crib.  
Villanelle nodded  
“See there”- Villanelle pointed at the engraved writing ‘Оксана’ “that is my name, the only things my father ever gave me. My name and my crib”  
Eve stored that information away for late. Villanelle was slowly opening up to her and every time she let out small bits of information like this Eve’s brain stored it away. 

“I did something else too” Villanelle said more shyly this time.  
“Oh?”  
“I have a contact at the British government and at the British Embassy in Moscow.”  
“Yes” Eve wondered why Villanelle was being so hesitant. What could she possibly had done?  
“Oksana Astankova is no longer dead. Well I mean she is, she died in prison in 2014. What I am trying to say is that the new Oksana Astankova is London born, to an English mother and Russian father. She when to Oxford, she pays taxes and has a misdemeanor for public indecency” 

“You. You revived yourself? Why?” Eve asked  
“I thought you would be happy? It was expensive you know” Villanelle said evading the question.  
“Why” Eve asked again. 

Villanelle took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second before replying.  
“If I am to raise a child with you, I need to be alive to do so. This Oksana is real, legally, she lives in London and works for MI6... she is Eve Polastri’s girlfriend.”


	3. Getting to know you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 20 questions?

They had nothing to eat in the house, well they had nothing that wouldn’t take at least an hour to make and neither were in the mood for that. After a short conversation on what to eat, and where to order from they settled on Italian.

While they were waiting Villanelle continued to paint the while Eve watched her curiously. “You know, you didn’t have to go back to being Oksana. MI6 could have made you a new identity it you’d asked.” Eve said.

Villanelle looked up from her work and at Eve, then looked away again, her eyes flickering around the room as if she were physically searching for the words.

“I have been many different people” Villanelle said with a faraway look in her eyes, like she was trying to recall every name she’d ever had.

“Oksana was weak and boring, and she died in prison” Villanelle tone got harder with every word. “Oksana was never good enough for Anna. She wanted to save her, to change her.”

Eve noticed the disconnect, the way Villanelle spoke of ‘Oksana’ as if she was a different person all together.

Villanelle would be a psychologists’ wet dream.

Lost in thought Eve hadn’t notice Villanelle coming closer to her before she was touching her arms. Eve jumped at bit from surprise and she could have sworn she saw Villanelle smile a little bit at that.

“Maybe this new Oksana won’t be boring. The new Oksana has you and you are not boring, you aren’t trying to save my soul” Villanelle’s tone was both hopeful and commandeering at the same time.

Again, Eve noticed the disconnect. But also, that she had said ‘my soul’ at the end, as if she was reacquainting herself with being Oksana. Eve wanted to try something. It could blow up in her face, but it was a calculated risk.

“Oksana” She said taking Villanelle’s hands in her own.

“you couldn’t be boring if you tried. I am glad you decided that. I- how do I say this without sounding crazy. I like you, so very much. I like everything about you, including you being an assassin. I don’t know why, but I promise I won’t try to change you or save you. I honestly think you saved me.”

I could love Oksana. I could have a family with Oksana. Eve thought before being interrupted by the doorbell.

While eating Eve thought if they were going to do this, really do this she needed to know more about Vill- Oksana. She would start with something impersonal and work her way to the core.

“Why did you call me at work that time? You sounded desperate” Eve said before taking a sip of Sprite. She already missed wine.

“I have never been desperate in my life” Villanelle replied with wink

“that’s a lie and we both know it” Eve said with no real heat behind it.

“you really wish to know?” Villanelle asked.

“Please”

“Fine. It is a long story beginning with your poor attempt at foreplay”

“Excuse me?” Eve said, a bit staggered.

“When you stabbed me” Villanelle simply said trying to sound bored but her eyes portrait her amusement.

“That wasn’t foreplay”

“Oh baby don’t be ashamed, as far as foreplay go I’ve had worse” Villanelle said and honestly, that was a bit sad.

“Anyway, go on” Eve pressed

“After the stabbing and the hospital and the long car ride from France to England in the trunk of a car I ended up at a small pharmacist. Where I conned some boring looking middle-aged man into taking me home with him, thinking I could get some antibiotics, some rest and then leave…” Villanelle stopped, she could see that Eve was hooked on the story she was telling.

“So when I got to his house he had bars on the windows. And I shit you not, porcelain dolls everywhere.”

“Oh God. Oh no” Eve said, completely emerged in the story.

“Oh yes. I asked him to go to the pharmacist to get me some antibiotics and pads to help with the cut but her refused. I passed out and woke up in a nightgown… I have chosen not to think too much about that. That night I wandered the house to see what I could find to help myself, and then I saw a door locked from the outside with several locks”

Eve nodded intensely. And in that moment Villanelle knew, she just knew, that Eve was the type of person who watched Murder she wrote.

“I walked to the door prepared to find everything from a drug lab to kidnapped children. But it was only an old Lady, his mother”

“Oh” Eve said not even bothering to hide her disappointment.

“After refusing to let me leave,holding me captive as I was too weak fight, for a few days I almost lost my mind and was delirious with fever, so I got a hold of a phone and called you. But you know how that turned out”

“So how did I end up finding his corpse with a toilet brush sticking out of his mouth?” Eve asked

“He put his fingers in my mouth” Villanelle said as though it explained everything.

And Eve laughed, really laughed. Sometimes Villanelle could be so apparent, so childish and direct.

“My turn, why did you not reply to my postcards? Why did you not show up in Amsterdam?” Villanelle asked.

“Postcards? I never got any postcards. And as for Amsterdam I wasn’t allowed to.” Eve answered a bit confused.

“You never got my cards? Truly?”

“Oksana, I promise you I never got them”

“oh, never mind then” Villanelle said but from the look in her eyes and the tone of her voice Eve knew she would obsess over it.

“Tell me something about yourself, something I don’t know” Eve pleaded.

“.. hmm” Villanelle was deep in thought trying to find something that she could tell Eve without exposing too much of her past. Like she had when she mentioned the pregnancy.

“It doesn’t have to be deep or profound”

“There is an old Russian superstition that going back you a house after leaving is bad luck, if you absolutely have to you must look you self in the eye in a mirror before leaving again. To ward off evil”

Eve looked at Villanelle with a smile on her lips

“And you do this?”

Villanelle nodded

“I am not one to mess with spirits. My mother taught me this as her mother taught her”

“Let’s play 20 questions” Eve proposed.

“20 questions, how do you play that?” Villanelle asked. She had a fair idea based on the title, but she would like to know how to win this game.

“we take turn asking 20 questions, each, you can pass on two questions”

“No, that is too many.” 20 questions villanelle thought, there was so much she didn’t want Eve to know.

“alright, 10 questions each, with one pass”

“Acceptable. Age before beauty” Villanelle joked with a twinkle in her eyes and motioned for Eve to start.

“Haha fine, lets start off easy. What is your favorite drink and why?” Eve asked

“That was a double question Baby, my favorite drink is the Krug clos du mesnil blanc de blancs brut champagne, it is said to be one of the best in the world”

Eve really wanted to know why, was it the taste or was it linked to a memory or experience? She wanted to ask but knew that since Villanelle didn’t freely tell her there was a deeper meaning behind it and Eve knew her well enough to not waste a deep question on champagne.

The food had gotten cold by now but neither of them were eating anyways. Eve got up from her chair and walked to the couch, motioning for Villanelle to follow her, which she did. Stalking towards the couch with a determined look in her eyes. What Eve didn’t know was that Villanelle was determined to tell the truth as much as she could. She would make an effort.

“Why did you break into my house that night, and don’t say you just wanted dinner”

“I needed your phone, it seemed like a good option”

“No, it didn’t, that was the most difficult way to do it and I knew you had taken it”

“Okay fine, I wanted to meet you,” Villanelle admitted, ”after you had saved Frank out at the countryside, when you’d rather I shoot at you that myself, I wanted to meet you in person, talk to you. It was simply luck that you’d put on the dress that night”

Villanelle was telling the truth. Eve could see it in her eyes. There was a certain gleam to them when she told the truth, a sort of light reflected.

“Were you there? At the school that night?” was Eve’s next question.

“I think you and I can feel each other, when we are close” Villanelle said, “Yes I was there, I was trying to convince Gemma to seduce Moustache, it was that night I put the lipstick in you purse”

“I knew it!” Eve exclaimed “I could practically feel you, after I pulled the fire alarm and stood outside, my whole body was tinkling.”

Eve had been right. Villanelle had been there, the apple was for her and the feeling that had ran throughout her entire body, and warmed her in places she wouldn’t mention, hadn’t been wrong.

“You looked beautiful in that dress”

“I wore the perfume you got me”

“I know, I was close enough to smell you” Villanelle said, and Eve could tell that in that moment she was as turned on as Eve.

There was something primal about that sentence, something that ran cold down her spine but started a fire in her groin.

“Did you steal my green scarf?” Villanelle laughed at this. It completely changed the mood.

“Yes, I still have it- before you ask, No I am not giving it back”

That, for some reason, gave Eve a warm feeling inside. Villanelle had something of hers that she… treasured. Something that she, despite moving around a lot and fleeing Paris, had kept. Villanelle was sentimental.

“Alright question number 4. That kid in France, in the hospital, he was 12 or something. Why did you Kill him?”

“Eve, you naughty girl that was your 5th question don’t try to fool me.” Villanelle said with a strict tone, not because Eve had cheated a bit, but because she didn’t want to answer the question, she would seem soft, weak. But she was worried about wasting her 1 pass on it, there were still 5 questions to go and if she used it Eve could ask her anything.

“Oksana, he was 12 years old. What could he possibly have done to you to warrant killing him?” Eve was serious about this question Villanelle realized, it must have bothered her, most of Villanelles’ killings were hired and despite never really knowing exactly why she was killing the person they were alt least legally adults.

“He did nothing wrong. His name was Gabriel, had superhero pyjamas and liked to play games.”

Villanelle took a deep breath, steeling herself, and continued

“He asked me what had happened to me and I told him that my girlfriend had stabbed me. I asked what had happened to him, he had lost his entire family in an accident and was very hurt”

“Oh” was all Eve could say

“Before I left, he gave me at set of his pyjamas and asked me to look under the bandages and tell him how bad it was”

“And?”

Villanelle let out a sigh. “It was very bad. Do you know The Hound from The Game of Thrones?” Villanelle asked Eve nodded, yeah, she had seen him.

“It was like that, the skin on the right side of his face was sort of peeled of, like a road burn, and he was missing an eye. He told me that he wished he’d died with his family, that he didn’t want live like looking like that… so I sat on his bed and hugged him, said some soft things and quickly and painlessly snapped his neck, then laid him down again on the bed gently.”

And Eve understood, a normal person would never take a kid’s word as value when spoke like that, they would have told him he would learn to live with it, that it wasn’t as bad as it looked, they would have lied. But Villanelle wasn’t normal, she would lie on a whim but not with something like that. In her mind she had probably done him a favor. She had killed him, not because she was angry, or bored or paid to. But out of mercy.

“How many languages do you speak?” the 6th question was pure practical curiosity. Villanelle smiled, feeling a bit superior before answering.

“Fluently. Italian, German, English, French and Russian. Well; Spanish, polish, Croatian and Japanese. And the languages in which I only know a couple of word are, Norwegian and Chinese, I am still learning those.” There was a proud look in Villanelles’ eyes as she finished her long list.

“That’s 11 languages!” Eve was beyond impressed.

“Well I get bored easily and the challenge of learning a new language helps. Of course, most of these I can’t write in, only speak and read to some extent.” She explained, but in Eve’s eyes it didn’t take anything away from the accomplishment.

“You are so caught up on manners, why is that?”

“It must be in my file. After I was removed from my home, I was sent to Rozhdestvensky Convent, a nunnery. I was 13 at the time and spent a little over 2 years there before being sent back into the city in a group home.”

“So, the nuns taught you manners”

“No Eve, the Russian orthodox nuns taught me how to do coke” Villanelle’s accent got more pronounced when she was upset.

“They had this one-meter long bamboo stick and if you were impolite or misbehaved they’d beat you until they got too tired to stand”

“I am sorry that happened to you.” Villanelle looked surprised at that. “I am too”

“So, on a happier note. I know you’ve had both male and female lovers. Do you prefer one or is it an even split”

“You wish to know if you have competition?” Villanelle teased, “Men are easy, they are not my favorite but if I need to blow off steam right this second I would choose a man, but women are more exciting, harder to get, more of a challenge. I simply like whatever is the biggest challenge to get, so if men weren’t such sluts, I’d like them more” Villanelle concluded.

“That’s fair” Eve said while stretching, they’d been sitting there for a while now.

“What is something you’ve always wanted to do?” Villanelle blushed, just a little.

“It’s silly”

“Oh, now you have to tell me” Eve said, amusement clear in her tone.

“Regicide, I have always wanted to kill a Monarch” Villanelle said, with a dreamy look in her eyes.

Okay, Eve would admit that was a bit weird, even for someone like Villanelle.

“What really happened when you were pregnant?” Eve asked her final question. “Pass” Villanelle said her tone and her eyes hard as diamond. There weren’t there yet. Eve could live with that.


	4. tête-à-tête

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “My turn” Villanelle said with a smile.

“My turn” Villanelle said with a smile.

Her mood changed so fast she almost gave Eve a whiplash.   

“Were did you like living the most, America or England?” she asked.

“Well I liked the freedom and the openness of America, at least the way it was at that time. But America was my dad’s home and now that he is gone, I like England more it’s been my home for longer” Eve answered simply.

Villanelle refilled her wine glass and took a slow sip before giving Eve a look that almost burned her.

“Were you turned on? When I came to your house the first time, when I undressed you in your kitchen? Villanelle leaned so close to Eve that she could almost kiss her.

Eve gulped and nodded slowly.

“Say it” Villanelle demanded

“Yes- I- I shouldn’t have but it did. It think I was both parts scared and excited at that point” Eve admitted full on blushing.

Villanelle leaned into her and placed a soft kiss on her collarbone, she drew back softly pecked Eves lips and whispered.

“Are you scared of me?”

Eve thought for a second, was she? She trusted Villanelle, trusted that she wouldn’t kill her in her sleep.

“No, not anymore. I know that you wouldn’t hurt me unless I wanted to be hurt” Eve replied.

And from the look on Villanelle’s face it was the right answer.

Villanelle, in contrast to Eve barely waited between questions, firing them off one after one.

“Do you miss being married to Niko?”

“No” Eve said looking straight at Villanelle. She spoke truthfully, she missed him sometimes, they’d been married for a long time after all, but she knew Villanelle wouldn’t understand. But no, she didn’t miss being married to him, looking back on it now she realized that they were only really happy the first 5 years. After that everything fell into a routine and they lead separate lives parallel with each other.

Again Eve’s answer seemed to please Villanelle, who was visibly starting to relax.  

“Did you ever wear any of the clothes?” Villanelle asked leaning away form Eve, giving her some space on the couch.

“well, I wore the dress as you know” Eve left out the unfortunate situation that followed and sight of a dead dismembered Frank wearing the same dress a few hours after,” I kept all of it but I haven’t worn it yet”

Villanelle pouted at bit at that, but Eve wasn’t sure there was any real feeling of hurt behind it.   

“When I did the accents, for the Peel case, which one did you prefer?” was Villanelle’s next question

Eve blushed a bit. Damn it.

Villanelle got a somewhat playful look on her face.

“it was the American one right, you said you liked her accent” Villanelle half guessed, half concluded.

“Actually” Eve said, “I prefer this one, your natural accent”

“Really. Why?” Villanelle asked perplexed

“It will cost you a question if you want me to answer that” Eve replied

Villanelle nodded.

“Your accent is who you are, I know you speak a lot of languages and can switch between accents in a heartbeat. But when you are like this, comfortable and safe, you let yourself relax and then the real accent, the real _you_ , is exposed. That is the one I prefer.”

Villanelle had an expression on her face that Eve couldn’t read it was searching somehow, like she thought Eve might be lying or teasing her. But she accepted the answer and moved on.     

“Why did you stab me?”

The question hit Eve like a truck. She knew Villanelle would bring this up at some point but still felt a looming sense of dread fall over her. How do you answer a question like this?

“ _Oksana_ \- _I_ \- I don’t know for sure why I stabbed you. A part of me wanted to hurt you for killing Bill and a part of blamed you for my marriage falling apart. It wasn’t until I had stabbed you and you said that you liked me, past tense, that I realized that I really didn’t want you to die. That will always be my _biggest_ regret you know?”

Eve felt like a weight had been lifted from her, she had confessed her sin, now all she could do was hope for forgiveness.

Villanelle lifted her shirt and exposed the still healing scar to Eve, who couldn’t help but look away for a second.

“I _need_ you to know this. After you stabbed me I had to steal clothes from a homeless camp, pour vodka into the open wound, get hit by a taxi just to get a ride to a hospital, escape the hospital after killing a _child_ , lay with a stab wound compressed in the trunk of a car for hours from France to England, where I got held hostage, after _painfully_ fighting my way to freedom I got in the car of a new handler who was seconds away from choking me to death.” Villanelle’s tone was even but angry. She had been through so much and even after telling her all of this Eve barely knew half of what had happened, but she _needed_ her to know what she had done to her.

Eve had silent tears running down her face as Villanelle spoke. When she first had asked about the phone call Villanelle hadn’t told her all of this, how much pain she’d put her through. Villanelle might have forgiven her for the stabbing, but not for the hurt that followed.   

Villanelle cleared her throat a bit and pulled her shirt down before asking her next question.     

“Do you hate me for killing bill?”

“ _Yes_ ” Eve answered simply. Villanelle would never forgive her for stabbing her and she would _never_ forgive her for killing Bill.

Villanelle nodded, as if she accepted it.

She didn’t regret killing him, not really, she hadn’t lied when she said he’d been holding Eve back. But she regretted that she had hurt Eve like that, she regretted that she had done something that Eve would never forgive her for.

“You have mentioned a few times that I am a psychopath, but you and I are two side of the same coin. Are you sure _you_ aren’t a psycho too? “Villanelle asked curiously.

 Eve thought for a bit.

“Pass”

Villanelle raised an eyebrow, inquisitively, it revealed more about Eve that she refused to answer the question. She was probably scared of the answer.

“Okay last question, do you truly want to have a baby?”

Villanelle watched different emotions play out across Eve’s face.

“No- Yes, maybe, I honestly don’t know” Eve said. She had been trying not to think about it, “I mean I want to have a family”

“In my experience family leaves” Villanelle said.

She thought about her own family, back in Russia. When she had gotten the crib from storage, she had broken into her sister’s house in order to get the key. The only person she ever missed was her sister. Their mother had gotten pregnant with her older sister Nadezhda, at the age of 17, her father had been 32 at the time. They had married when her mother turned 18 and 3 years later Oksana was born. Their father was a mean drunk, but he didn’t drink often so it was manageable. Their mother loved them so dearly, she said that Nadezhda meant ‘hope’ and Oksana meant ‘traveller’ and the biggest achievement for a mother was when their children lived up to their names, their potential. Then Alexander was born, their mother died, and their father started drinking every day. By the time it got so bad the police were involved Nadezhda was 18 and took 9-year-old Alexander away to live with her and her boyfriend. Leaving Oksana for the authorities to place in that Convent. Thus, beginning the series of events that lead her here.

Villanelle felt Eves soft hand on her cheek and looked to see a gentle but surprised look on her face.

“Oksana” Eve said softly, “you’re crying”

Villanelle felt panic run thought her body. She needed to get out of there, to get far away from Eve, she couldn’t be seen like this.

But Eve wrapped her arms around her, and like that morning in Amsterdam Villanelle couldn’t stop the tears. She heard Eve’s gentle voice singing in a low tone words she didn’t understand, they sounded Asian, so she was more than likely singing to Villanelle in Korean. Eventually Villanelle relaxed against Eve’s body and let herself be held by the older woman.

After what felt like hours Eve spoke.

“We should go to bed, we have a long day tomorrow”

Villanelle nodded, tomorrow was her first official workday, it you excluded the Peel case.

Once they were in bed and Eve had fallen asleep Villanelle spooned Eve and whispered in her ear.   

“Я хочу иметь семью с тобой.*”

      

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Я хочу иметь семью с тобой - I want to have a family with you*


	5. Please Return to Eve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. There were exams then a national holiday and Eurovison.

“Are you nervous?” Eve asked over breakfast. Villanelle had gone for a morning run and by the time she’d returned Eve had showered and prepared breakfast.

Villanelle took a large sip of her coffee and shook her head no.

“What are you thinking about?” Eve wondered out loud.

“surveillance microphones” Villanelle answered simply with no further explanation.

“Elaborate?” Eve could feel the heat rise in her body, but not in the good way.

“During the Peel case in Rome, I would have paid a fortune to have communication go both ways. You told my you used Hugo while you listen to me” Villanelle paused to make eye contact with a blushing Eve. She regretted ever telling Villanelle that.

“I wanted to hear you too, I wanted you to tell me good morning too”

Eve let out a light laugh.

“You want me to ask Carolyn to invest in better surveillance gear because the phone sex wasn’t as good for you as you wanted it to be?” She asked sarcastically.

Villanelle not very good at picking up on sarcasm nodded with enthusiasm.

“Yes”

“No” Eve replied.

“Then I want a new try with phone sex” Villanelle demanded.

“Fine. Next time one of us is away we will have…phone sex, I promise”

Villanelle didn’t reply but Eve saw her smiling into her breakfast roll.

\--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---  --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

After breakfast they got ready and took Eve’s car to work.

The entire ride Villanelle was twirling and fiddling with her bracelet. Eve wanted to ask her to stop, for all her faults Villanelle took directions surprisingly well, but knew that she was nervous and didn’t want to talk about it.

Villanelle was stroking her bracelet, the bracelet, and looking out of the window. She was thinking hard.

The offer to work at MI6 had come with a lot of strings.

  1. No killing anyone who hasn’t been approved or arranged by either Konstantin or Carolyn.



That one seemed difficult, what if the person was annoying or the offer was really good? Of course during cases she had, well not a licence to kill, but at least a permit, if she could justify it aiding the case she could kill someone.   

 

  1. No leaving the country without informing either Konstantin or Carolyn.
  2. She had to physically be at the office at least three times a week for a minimum of 6 hours each, or she would not get paid.
  3. During cases that involved her skills the chain of command was Villanelle ->Eve -> Konstantin-> Carolyn.  
  4. She had to answer her phone if she wasn’t actively in the field.
  5. She had to see a therapist.



The last one was her least favourite. She hadn’t started at the therapist, yet, but she already dreaded it. Eve had told her not to worry, he was a nice guy, but that wasn’t the problem. She just really hated Therapists.

“Oksana, we’re here” Eve said gently as if not to startle her coming out of the own head.

“Right.” Villanelle said. She tried to get up but nothing, her body would not move an inch.

“Oksana, are you coming” Eve asked

And Villanelle wanted to reply with something witty and dirty, but it was like her mind stood completely still. She looked over at Eve who was by now walking back towards her with a worried look on her face.

Eve gently touched Villanelle’s cheek, it was becoming her thing Villanelle noted.

“What if they don’t like me?” Villanelle hated that she’d asked that, she hated how weak it sounded. Why should she care if they liked her or not? But then she realised she wanted them to like her for Eve’s sake. She wanted to be with Eve, all the way and that meant spending time with her friends too and she didn’t want to put a strain on their relationship by having Eve’s friends hate her.

“It will be fine Oksana, you are very likable when you try” Eve said with a smile. The key word being try. She didn’t lie Villanelle was very likable, when they were alone, and she’d let her guard down. But she could also be childish, intimidation and uncooperative.  

“What if I get fired?” Villanelle asked.

“Then we will deal with that” Eve replied. She would do everything in her power for Villanelle to keep her job, but if it came down to it she would also quit and they would move to America and start a new life there.

“Are you ready to go in now?” Eve asked.

Villanelle nodded wordlessly and got out of the car.

Once they got in the building they were greeted by the head of security. Martin, who gave Villanelle a work access card which read:

Astankova, Oksana

Consultant

Level: MI6 – D

Which wasn’t all that bad Villanelle thought. She knew that MI6 and Carolyn had no real reason to trust her, other than her desire to be close to Eve nothing really kept her tied to England or MI6, sure they could prove that one murder, but she could disappear before they could assemble a task force. As for the level, it wasn’t the worst either, she had seen Eve’s card and she was level ‘C’. Eve who lead a task force semi successful in finding her, was level C. These people didn’t value her enough.

They made their way down to the connecting offices that was their headquarters. Once there the awkward introductions were made.

Villanelle was first welcomed by Konstantin, which relaxed her a bit, he had stayed to get her settled in but would be returning to Russia soon for something. Villanelle hadn’t really paid attention to that.

The second person to greet her was a short woman named Jess, apparently, she was on maternity leave but came in today to meet Villanelle.

“Hello, I’m Jess. You must be- eh I don’t know what to call you” She said awkwardly while extending her hand.

“You may call me Villanelle” she replied while shaking the offered hand. Then she gave a slight smile, she wanted Jess to like her after all.

Next up was Hugo. She had already decided not to like Hugo, Eve had told her about her basically using him as a human dildo, while listening to Villanelle masturbate. Villanelle had reacted about as well as anyone would expect, it had taken Eve a while and a lot of sex to talk Villanelle down from killing him to just not liking him.

He introduced himself and like Jess he extended his hand.

Villanelle was torn between intimidating him and ignoring him, but a brief glance at Eve told her to do the latter.

She then moved on to the scared child-looking guy trying to hide between the others.

“Eh- Hey, I’m Kenny” he said and gave a small wave at her.

Villanelle waved in retun and with a smile, a bit more sincere than before she said.

“Hey I’m Villanelle”

“Oy, why does he get a nicer greeting? I am way more likable” Jess said somewhere behind her and thus began her first day at work.

\--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Towards the end of the day, a lot of boring paperwork, had been done and Villanelle had sorted thru some crime scene photos and picked out a few that could be the work of an assassin.

“Oksana, I’ll go down to the car with these, are you good to lock up with Kenny and meeting me in the parking lot?” Eve asked balancing a box of case files.

Villanelle briefly looked up and nodded.

“Yes, I will put this away and meet you in 5 minutes”

When Eve turned to leave Konstantin opened the door for her.

“Let me walk you out” He said, and Eve got an off feeling.

Once they were a bit further away, she couldn’t take it anymore.

“What’s wrong? Is it the 12?” She asked.

“How did you get to call her Oksana? I’ve known her for years and I’m still not allowed to call her anything but Villanelle” He asked. Deflected.

“That is not important right not” Eve didn’t want him to know, that they were considering starting a family, that she’d gotten to know Oksana at bit more, that Oksana had reclaimed her name, just for Eve.

“Is she in danger?” Eve pressed.

“Villanelle is always in danger in someway” Konstantin said darkly.

“Explain”

“Whatever she went to Russia for last week must have been important, because her father is starting to look into her death in prison, he no longer believes that she is dead”

Fuck. Was all that went through Eve’s head.

“He, Illya Astankov, is a high-ranking member of the Russian crime syndicate, and if he wants to find his daughter he will”

Before Eve could reply or ask anything Villanelle showed up.

“Ready to go home?” she asked Eve, but her focus was on Konstantin.

“Yeah, come on” Eve said, but she could get what Konstantin had just said out of her head.

When they got home, Eve ordered take out while Villanelle went to shower. After placing the order Eve went up to change out of her work clothes. She went to the dresser and saw the bracelet Villanelle had been fiddling with all day, she picked it up to examine it and saw that in the silver circle it was engraved.

 

Please return to Eve.

Her heart stopped, or burst, or grew three sizes or whatever you wanted to call it. She couldn’t believe it, that was what Villanelle had been touching all day like a safety blanket? Form the wording she couldn’t tell if it was meant as a request or an order. Please return to Eve, that had confirmed it for Eve.

She had known Villanelle liked her, everyone knew that, and she knew that Villanelle cared about her. But this? This was Oksana loving her. This was Oksana making Eve her home. This was not Villanelle, just Oksana.

Eve put the bracelet back were she had found it and quickly took off her clothes and walked to the bathroom.

She opened the door slowly. She knew she couldn’t surprise the assassin, but she liked to try.

She heard Villanelle signing as the door opened.  

“ _What do you want from me? Why don't you run from me?_  
_What are you wondering? What do you know?_  
_Why aren't you scared of me? Why do you care for me?_  
_When we all fall asleep, where do we go?_ ”

Eve listened to the lyrics but standing there buck naked in her bathroom she decided to unpack all of that at another time.

She pulled the shower curtain to the side which, judging by the way she jumped a bit, surprised the assassin.

“Can I join you?” Eve asked. Her usual shyness gone from her voice.

Villanelle looked her up and down, licking her lips with a predatory look in her eyes.

“Please” She said and stepped back to make room for Eve.

Eve stepped into the more that warm shower and put her arms around Villanelle, pulling her closer until they were standing flush against each other.

Villanelle leaned down and captured Eve’s lips in a kiss that started off gently but quickly gained in passion.

She ran her fingers down Eve’s slight bump and down between her legs, pleased to find that the shower wasn’t the only thing making Eve wet.

After their very enjoyable, and very wasteful, shower Villanelle dried off quickly, dressed in her favourite pyjamas and made her way downstairs to set the table and wait for the food. She had just poured herself a glass of champagne when the doorbell rang. She sat her glass on the counter and went to open the door.

But when she opened the door, she didn’t see the ugly yellow vest of ‘Papi’s Pizzas’ but the ugly face of Eve’s soon to be ex-husband.

The only consolation was that he looked just as surprised and displease to see her as she did him.

“Oksana, please tip the delivery boy with money this time, flashing is not a socially accepted form of payment in London” Eves voice called as she walked down the stairs but stopped dead in her track when she saw who was at the door.

“What are _you_ doing here?”


	6. She only wants to be with me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ewa nie chce, żebym cię zabił, ale jeśli nie odejdziesz teraz, i tak to zrobi.” Villanelle said in a dark and dangerous voice. Even Eve hadn’t heard it before, it was almost feral.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in this Villanelle didn't kill Gemma, she simply got the recipe and left.  
> also just so you know here Eve is 41 years old. i made her a bit younger because of the pregnancy.

 “What are you doing here?” Eve asked, she didn’t sound angry but not exactly happy either.

“I came to talk to you- Things with Gem…” Niko started but stopped when he remembered that Villanelle was standing right there.

“Can we speak somewhere private? Without your mistress standing a meter away” Niko requested.

Eve glanced at Villanelle and could tell that she was getting angry, her entire body was tensed and ready to attack him.

“No” Eve said, “I am sorry if things with Gemma aren’t going as well as you like them to, but you and I are done. We have been for a while”

“Eve, come on, you don’t just throw away years of marriage for a fling. I’m willing to forgive you and leave all of this behind” Niko tried.

“She said no, now leave before I make you” Villanelle spoke up from behind Eve.

“Stay out of it, this is between me and my wife” Niko said.

The situation was beginning to go bad. Eve could feel it.  

 “Niko, I need you to leave… you walked out on me and I’ve accepted it and moved on, you need to do the same” Eve tried

“No and you can’t make me, this is still my house as well”

He was right, they’d bought the house together, in both of their names. He could by law stay and there would be nothing she could do.

“I know it is, but I want to make it very clear to you, so that you understand completely.” Eve said “We are over, I have chosen Villanelle, I want to live with her, be with her and stay with her for the rest of my time. There is nothing here for you.”

She could tell from his face that she’d hurt him by saying that. A part of her was sad about it, but the other part was glad. He had hurt her too after all, he had left her. Villanelle wasn’t her second choice, not by far. Eve had been having an emotional affair with her long before he’d decided to leave.   

“The rest of you time? You are almost 42 years old Eve and she’s what 23? By the time she’s your age you will be enjoying retirement.” He said haughtily. “Whatever mommy issues she has will be gone by then, and where does that leave you?”

“I don’t like Eve because I have mommy issues or because of some sick infatuation. I lo-like her because she is amazing. Everything about her is admirable, her dedication to her job, her friends, her weird sense of humour. But I also lo-like what you’ve been trying to repress for years. Her darkness, it soothes mine, keeps it company. If she breaks something simply because she feels like it, I will be right there with her, breaking something too. If she tells me about a decision she had to make for work, I won’t make her feel guilty about it, because she probably did it kinder that I would have.” Villanelle explained while stepping in front of Eve, acting as a shield, she didn’t want him to look at Eve anymore.

“Darkness you say? I saw that darkness, after out little chat at Oxford and let me tell you Eve is into some sick shit” Niko sneered.

“Niko stop it. The neighbours are watching” Eve said looking around which confirmed her statement, several houses had their kitchen or living room window open, listing and watching the drama that was unfolding.

“Oh, you care what the neighbours think? You don’t want them to hear about your 20-year-old lover whom you left your husband for? Or the sick shit you like in bed? Like getting choked or spanked? How you get off on the pai-“ His voice was almost shouting now, making sure everyone hear him. But he was cut off by Villanelle.

Just between his fourth and fifth rib she was lightly pressing a switchblade, not enough to wound him through his jacket, but enough that he knew it was there.

“Ewa nie chce, żebym cię zabił, ale jeśli nie odejdziesz teraz, i tak to zrobi.” Villanelle said in a dark and dangerous voice. Even Eve hadn’t heard it before, it was almost feral.

And to be honest it did things to her.

Before Niko could reply the pizza, delivery guy approached the door, completely unaware of what was going on.

“Please sir just leave, I understand you don’t agree with our life choices but if you keep stalking my girlfriend I will have to go to the police” Villanelle said in a perfectly standard London accent, her eyes were wide with fear and her voice quivered as she pulled the knife in to view with a shaking hand.

“Is this man bothering you?” The pizza guy asked.

Villanelle nodded with tears steaming silently down her cheeks.

“He keeps following my girlfriend and I, saying that we are an abomination against God”

The Pizza guy put his bag down and pulled Niko backwards by grapping the hood of his coat. Once Niko was off the doorstep, he got in front of him, pushing him out while yelling profanities. Niko was pushed out his car, which he wisely decided to get into.

The pizza guy returned to the two women, a baffled looking Eve and Villanelle who was still acting.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. My sister is gay, and she gets harassed sometimes too. The eh- the pizza is on the house this time” He said, somewhere between awkward and kind.   

“Thank you, for everything” Villanelle said with mascara running down her cheeks.

“You’re welcome” He said before leaving.

Villanelle brought the pizza inside and Eve closed the door.

“we should do that more often, free pizza tastes better” Villanelle said from the kitchen while getting everything ready.

“What did he mean by Oxford?” Eve asked.

“Eve, it’s nothing”

“Great then it shouldn’t be a problem to tell me”

“arrgh fine, I went to Oxford after seeing The Ghost. I apologised for all the sexual harassment accusations I had called in to the school and he pushed me up against a wall, I simply said he should try it with you, that you’d like it. And you did”

“… how do you know that?” Eve asked, then it dawned on her, “you were watching us weren’t you?”

“Yes” Villanelle replied, she hadn’t even been able to enjoy it as all she had felt was jealousy.

Eve on the other hand did enjoy it. Something inside of her liked to know that Villanelle had been watching her.

“Eve- did you mean it?” Villanelle asked in return.

“Mean what?” Eve said putting a slice on pizza on her plate.

“That you chose me?” Villanelle asked shyly.

“Yes Oksana, I meant it. I have chosen you and I want to spend my life with you”

“You called med Villanelle when he was here” Villanelle deflected. It had hurt her, Eve never called her that anymore.

“because I didn’t want him to know your real name. Oksana I only for me to call you” Sometimes Eve was of protective of her own.

“you didn’t tell him, about the baby”

“No”

“Why?” Villanelle questioned.

“Because the baby is ours. If he ever asks it was donor sperm that got me knocked up” Eve instructed her.

“As far as I am concerned it is” Villanelle replied.

\--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -

After a long evening of eating, working, and watching Game of Thrones. They went to bed.

This time Villanelle fell asleep first and Eve studied her face, every curve.

But what drew her in the most was how young and innocent Villanelle looked when she was sleeping. If anyone saw them like this they’d think Eve was a cradle robber, that she had corrupted some sweet innocent girl.

Eve bend forward and kissed her lips gently to say goodnight.

When she pulled away from Villanelle, she saw the sweetest smile she’d ever seen.

“come to bed Baby” Villanelle whispered

And Eve did as she asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ewa nie chce, żebym cię zabił, ale jeśli nie odejdziesz teraz, i tak to zrobi.- Eve does not want me to kill you, but if you don’t leave right now I will kill you anyway.


	7. Så mange smukke mennesker i indre København.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'll bet you a 100 quid that he's gay.

The next week was a mess. Eve had gotten in touch with a lawyer to handle the divorce. She had always thought that if it came to it, they’d be mature enough to handle it on their own, but it turns out that they aren’t.

On top of that they had discovered an alarming connection between Aron Peel and the Danish Minister of Justice that they had to check out. So Eve, Kenny and Villanelle had been sent to Copenhagen to investigate it. Which of course meant using their best asset, Villanelle, to go undercover.

Their ‘In’ had been the half-brother of the Minister. After a lot of digging they found out he visited a swinger’s club in the inner city.

Despite a lot of attempts from Villanelle to get her to go Eve had flat out refused.

So there Villanelle was, with Kenny, in a Danish swinger’s club. Posting as a married couple, rings and everything.

“Can you hear me?” Villanelle asked subtly into the earpiece she was wearing, Carolyn had gotten them two-way communications this time, go figure.

“Yes” Eve answered shortly, even thought she had refused to go she hated the idea of other people, especially Kenny seeing Villanelle wearing only lingerie.

Kenny had hacked into the club’s private security cameras, why a place like this would have cameras was beyond him but who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Can you see me?” Villanelle asked, her voice slurry this time as she gently ran her hands up her sides and brushed her lace covered breasts.

“I eh- I think I see our target over there” Kenny’s embarrassed voice rang in both of their ears. Right he was on the line too.

“I bet you 100 quid he’s in here because he’s gay, but this is plausible deniability” Kenny said as they approached him.

“I will take that bet. There is something else he’s hiding” Villanelle said, her tone thoughtful.

Klaus Reinholt was a careful man, too careful, the only things they knew about him was that his mother got divorced from her first husband and married his father when his half-brother was 6. He had attended a prestigious boarding school with his sister from 8th grad till he went to university where he studied bioengineering, he got B’s in everything and never really stood out. He’d gotten a job at Novo Nordisk after Uni and at the age of 27 he married his girlfriend of 6 years. He also went to swinger clubs’, both with and without his wife, but this was Denmark, so it wasn’t really a big deal. So why was he so careful with information about him? What was he hiding?      

 “Guys this is serious, also I’m with Kenny, he is so gay” Eve said thru the comms.

Villanelle sat down first.

“Hey, can I sit here” She asked in the poshest accent Eve had ever heard.

“Eh sure” Klaus said, he had a slight accent.

“My husband and I haven’t really tried this before, but you looked kind so I thought we might sit with you” Villanelle said, laying on her charm while Kenny stood awkwardly in the background.

“Sure, I’m Klaus. And you are?” he inquired.

“I’m Clara and this I my husband Peter” Villanelle said motioning for Kenny to join them.

Kenny gathered all the confidence he had, not a lot, and walked up to Klaus, who did I mention was only in boxers, to shake his hand.

“Nice to meet you” Klaus said.

“You too, wow that’s a firm handshake you’ve got there” Kenny tired to flirt.

Villanelle had given him flirting lessons all morning to get him ready, but he had ended up intimidated and turned on instead and hadn’t really listened.

Villanelle rolled her eyes and tried to save the situation.

“So what can you recommend in here? If one of us would like to try something…New?” Villanelle had scooted closer to him on the couch and their knees were now pressed together.

“Well there are a lot of different options here, what are you looking for?” He asked, he didn’t respond to Villanelle’s flirtation but didn’t turn it down either.

“Peter would like to watch, it’s been his number one fantasy for a while” Villanelle leaned closer as she spoke.

“Well, then we’d better go to one of the private rooms” he said and placed a hand on Villanelle soft thigh.

Villanelle smiled shyly, a look that wasn’t really becoming on her.

“Why don’t Peter get us some drinks while we talk for a bit? I’d like to not fuck a complete stranger”

“Sure” Klaus said but didn’t remove his hand from the thigh. Quite the opposite, he ran his hands a bit further up, to around mid-thigh and Villanelle parted her legs a bit. She was playing a role after all, and all the background moaning was turning her on.

Kenny had bribed the bartender to make one of the drinks extra strong and put in extra sweetener so it couldn’t be tasted.

When he returned, they talked a bit about nothing and everything while Klaus got drunker and drunker and felt Villanelle up more and more.

At one point the was lightly touching her through her blue lace panties and she let out a slight moan. She was only human.

“Oksana, you have a job to do!” Eve’s angry voice sounded in her ear.

Villanelle smiled a bit and as Klaus kept stroking her, she spread her legs a bit more and moaned louder.

“I’ll go get more drinks” said a rapidly blushing Kenny and got up quick to try and hide his boner.     

“Can I tell you a secret?” Villanelle asked in a whisper, keeping an eye on Kenny indicating that he mustn’t know.

“please” Klaus urged. His other hand working its way up to her breasts.  

“This was my husband’s idea, I wanted to try a woman, but he saw you and thought you looked kind of like his brother. He has a weird insecurity when it comes to his brother.” Villanelle said.

She had gotten a vibe from him, she couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but she knew she had to test her theory.

“What are you doing?” Eve hissed in her ear. She was risking the whole operation.

But then Klaus leaned in, his breath right next to Villanelle’s ear and whispered.

“You look like my sister” the way he said it Villanelle could tell, it was a deep secret, something he’d never shared with anyone before.

Villanelle kept her face straight and put a hand on the back of his neck, keeping him in place with his head next to hers.

“Your sister? You want to fuck you sister?”

He froze, his entire body went still, but under her hand Villanelle could feel his pulse so strongly she thought he might have a heart attack.

“Or have you already fucked her? Was she willing or did you take her?

She the leaned a bit a way from him before flicking her tongue over his lips.

“I can play your sister tonight, what do you want to call me?” Villanelle asked

“Caroline” Klaus replied and like Kenny had been earlier he was both scared and turned on.

Villanelle placed herself in his lap and kissed his neck.

“So did you?”

“Did I what?” He could barely focus with Villanelle’s hips grinding down on him.

“You look like a powerful man who is used to getting what he wants, did you take your sister? Did you make her yours?” she asked and nipple at his earlobe.

Back at the Hotel Eve was cursing at herself for her hand seemed to have a life of its own and had wandered into her pants while listing to Villanelle’s moans and breathy voice. She realized upon seeing her on the CCTV, really seeing Villanelle, just why she had been so effective as an assassin, not only was she a chameleon, but she was simply irresistible.

Eve saw Villanelle grind down on him again, this time harder.

“Yes” She heard him admit, to what he thought was only Villanelle.

“Tell me, I want to relive it with you upstairs” Villanelle practically moaned, and Eve felt a bit mortified because she had had sex with Villanelle multiply times before, but at this moment she couldn’t tell if the moaning was fake or not.

“I was 18 she was 16, our parents weren’t home, she came home late from a party, dressed like a slut and still drunk. I just couldn’t help myself I had to have her, so I followed her into her room, watched her undress and then I took her right there on her bed.” He admitted.

“Hmm, not really a gentleman, are you?” Villanelle said the extraction word. They had gotten what they wanted they had something on him now.

“Honey, this was a bad idea, can we please just leave?” Kenny came over and more or less pulled Villanelle off of Klaus.  

“Sure, I’m sorry Klaus, another time maybe?” Villanelle called out as they left a confused and horny Klaus behind.

The first thing Villanelle did when she returned to the room, she share with Eve was shower. And Eve appreciated that.

After about 20 minutes Villanelle had showered and dressed. And came out to find Eve and a now dressed Kenny talking at the table.

Villanelle pulled a chair across the room and sat next to Eve.

“Caroline Reinholt, 28 years old, went to boarding school with her brother but went to university in the other end of the country, she’s a paediatrician working at a Hospital in Jutland, she is not as private with her information as her brother. She’s engaged to a woman, and according to her medical records she got an abortion at 16, one at 17 and the last one at 18. It fits, her brother rapes her at 16, she gets pregnant and gets an abortion, she is 2 years below him at school so he probably kept up the abuse there, where their parents couldn’t monitor them. Depending on how many times he raped her he must have used protection, the two first abortion has their older bothers signature as a legal guardian so he must know.”

“And she moved as far away from him as possible” Villanelle nodded.

“So that is it? How we get to the Minister of justice? We play the tape for him and let him know that we know he signed off on the first two abortions?” Kenny asked

“Yes,” Eve said “Whether he knew or not, it’s not something he would want leaked to the press. That the Minister of justice’s brother raped their little sister for at least 3 years, and he is complicit in getting her the abortions to cover it up”

“So it is settled then, tomorrow we blackmail the Minister of justice.” Kenny said.

“Yes, but now you should leave, Eve and I need to fuck” Villanelle said looking directly at Kenny, who blushed with wide eyes and hurried out of the room.

“What makes you think I’d want to?” Eve asked trying to sound casual.

“I heard you breathing thru the comms, you were touching you self” Villanelle moved closer to her, almost touching her.  

“Well you were touching him” Eve said hotly, not even bothering to hide her jealousy.

“He was mostly touching me” Villanelle said, not realising that that would actually just make Eve’s jealousy worse.

“Yeah, and from the sounds you were making you weren’t exactly hating it” Eve replied, moving away from Villanelle.

Villanelle didn’t understand, she hadn’t had sex with him, she had only done it for the mission, they had been in a sex club after all, it would be weirder not to let him touch her, and she had gotten some crucial information out of him. So why was Eve mad?

“Baby, are you jealous?” Villanelle asked

Eve’s only reply was a huff as she laid down on the bed.

Villanelle crawled into the bed too and straddled Eve’s hips.

“I thought about you when he was touching me, I always think about you. When you were chasing me, I would find women around your age with hair like yours and I’d fuck them and call them Eve.”

“you´re not helping your case” Eve said trying to push Villanelle off of her, but Villanelle was stronger and heavier than she looked and didn’t budge.

“Eve, it was never the real thing, and now that I’ve had you, nothing else will do anymore”

“Well I’m sorry I ruined sex for you” Eve said sarcastically.

“yes” Villanelle wasn’t the best sarcasm, which Eve kept forgetting. “you did. I can’t get off without thinking about you anymore, you’ve consumed me Eve, I don’t want anybody else”

Eve had gotten used to Villanelle’s brass conduct when it came to talking about sex. But she hadn’t expected her to be this honest.

“Oksana”

“I mean it Eve, remember those two women in my apartment during the Peel case? I fucked them yes, but they didn’t touch me, I couldn’t stand it when they tried.”

“But what about now? with that guy?” Eve asked confused. Klaus had touched her, a lot.

“I told you I was thinking about you, the only way to stop myself from killing him was to imagine it was you doing it.”  Villanelle kept eye contact with her, willing her to see the truth.

“Okay, I believe you” Eve said after a while.

Villanelle leaned down and kissed her after that. The kiss was a passionate one, Villanelle had been turned on for hours and the shower hadn’t helped.

Eve brought her hands down between them and into Villanelle’s sweatpants and panties, she almost gasped at how wet Villanelle was, it was all for her the thought smugly. She pressed down on the blonde’s clit with her thumb and slid her fingers inside of her, or she would have, but she was stopped by something hard.

“Oksana?” Eve asked puzzled, pulling the object out of Villanelle.

“Oh, I knew I forgot something” Villanelle said offhandedly.

Eve wiggled her hand out from between them and realised what she was holding.

A knife, a silver switchblade, which Villanelle had kept inside of her, the entire time she was at the club. She hadn’t been lying, she really had no intention of sleeping with Klaus.

“What?” Eve asked.

“Eve baby, I will tell you about all the creative ways I’ve concealed weapons later, right now I need you to fuck me” Villanelle demanded. While taking off her pants and panties.

Eve nodded and used Villanelle’s distraction to flip them over.

She kissed Villanelle’s neck and sat up a bit to lift the blonde’s shirt over her head, revealing her naked breast. Eve kissed down between them before licking and biting the left nipple, her hand making it’s way down between the younger woman’s legs, this time there were no barriers for her fingers and Eve went as deep as she could, at times like this she really wished she had a dick, simply so she could go deeper.

Villanelle moaned, Eve had learned that Villanelle, like with everything else, was a show-off. She was very vocal about her pleasure and Eve loved it.

“Fuck Eve, please, harder” Villanelle moaned, her accent thick and the words almost got caught on her tongue. Another thing Eve adored about Villanelle, no matter how good she was at accents, her Russian accent was strongest when she had sex, it was one of the few times she couldn’t control it.

“Eve, Eve, Eve” Villanelle said her name like a prayer.  

Eve pulled her fingers out of her, and Villanelle almost whined. But it was only a second before her tongue replaced it and Villanelle’s moans got louder.

Eve was laying on her stomach, fingering herself while eating out her almost 20 years younger assassin girlfriend. For a second, she thought about Niko, she’d never really been passionate with him. On their wedding night she’d asked him to spank her, but he had turned her down with a weird look and ever since that time they’d only done vanilla stuff.

She almost wished he could see her now, how wet she was, how turned on just licking Villanelle had made her. But then Villanelle’s legs tighten around her head and all thoughts of Niko left her.

Once Villanelle had come down from her orgasm, she looked at Eve with hungry eyes, like she wanted to eat her.

“eh sorry to interrupt guys, but Eve can you please turn off the comms” came Kenny’s voice from the computer on the table.

Eve went bright red and hid her face in the pillows while Villanelle let out a roaring laugh.

Villanelle got off of the bed and went to turn off the computer.

“Hope you enjoyed it” she said to Kenny before shutting it down.

“Your turn” Villanelle said jumping back on the bed.

“No, knowing that Kenny heard that was like a cold bucket of water on my vagina” Eve admitted.

“I’m sure I could warm you up” Villanelle wiggled her eyebrows.

“Pass” Eve insisted.

Villanelle pouted but accepted the answer.

“tomorrow we get the information we need then we go home” Eve said as Villanelle cuddled into her.

Villanelle didn’t say anything but brought her down on Eve’s belly, where the slight bump was forming.

“I wish to join you, for the next scan” Villanelle said refusing to make eye contact with Eve.

Eve stroked her hair gently and looked at the hand on her belly, the hand still wearing a golden wedding band, it suited her.

“Okay Darling, we will make an appointment when we get home.”  

Villanelle nodded and closed her eyes.

“I won the bet by the way, you and Kenny both owe me a 100 quid”


	8. Hurts, but I know how to hide it.

The next morning at breakfast Kenny could barely look at either of them, he just kept staring down into his bowl of cereal.

Which embarrassed Eve and made Villanelle unbearably smug.

Villanelle took a bite of the waffle she was eating and let out a louder than appropriate moan, which only served to make Kenny blush harder.

“Oksana” Eve said in a scolding tone “behave”

“But baby, it’s just so good” Villanelle said, inuendo practically dripping off of every word.   

 “Oksana”

“Fine” Villanelle said looking at Kenny “But we need to get him laid, he is wound so tight I think he will explode.”   

Kenny looked up and made the unfortunate mistake of making eye contact with Villanelle, who winked at him.

“Kenny, I think you and I will make great friends” she said.

Eve was silently watching the exchange, even thought Villanelle was messing with Kenny she could tell that she actually liked him, in her own weird way.

After breakfast, a boring affair, if you asked Villanelle. They left the house of the Minister, it was very usual that unless there was a concrete threat made towards the minister or the parliament they wouldn’t be guarded.

So Eve simply rang the doorbell. Kenny had made sure he was home of course.

The door opened and a woman was reviled.

“Hej, kan jeg hjælpe jer med noget?” asked the beautiful woman.   

”Ja det kan du. Hei beklager vi forstyrrer, vi må snakke med mannen din.” Villanelle spoke in Norwegian, the closest to Danish.

“Oh okay, can I ask what it is about” The woman said in perfect English.

“No I’m sorry Ma’am, all I can say is the we are from MI6 in England” Eve replied showing id card.

“Alright, please come in then.” She said.

They heard a child’s voice shouting something from the far end of the house and the wife shouted something back.

From what Villanelle could understand it was something about a book.

“I’m sorry, I will have to go deal with that. Lars is in his office. Down the hall to the left” the wife said before walking up the stairs and shouting something again.

Eve and Villanelle made their way through the house in silence. Eve was observing the things around them, the pictures on the wall, the art pieces and so on.

Villanelle was observing too, but something else. She had noticed the wife’s long sleeves, the way in every picture she was wearing something that completely covered her whole body, even in the summer ones. She also noticed small marks on the walls, the kind of marks acrylic nails left on wood, and the fresh paint on the door frame into the kitchen, right around the height of the wife.   

Eve knocked on the door.

“Ja Pernille! Hvad er det?” they heard an angry voice from the other side.

“Det er ikke Pernille, det er MI6, trenger vi å snakke med deg.” Villanelle shouted back.

There was some rustling from inside the room, then the door opened.

“Lars Reinholt?” Eve asked, completely mispronouncing the name.

“Yes, what is this about” He asked, nervously.

“Can we come in?” Villanelle asked, already pushing past him into the office.

“sure” he said moving out of the way.

Once they were inside Eve took a seat in the “Guest” chair facing the desk and Villanelle sat on the armrest of said chair.

“So?” He asked again taking a seat in his own desk chair.

“It has come to the attention that you have been in a business arrangement with Aron Peel, to buy a weapon from him” Eve started. “If you weren’t aware Aron Peel has been arrested and in exchange for immunity on the charges of illegal espionage both domestic and foreign, we want you to testify against him in court.” Eve was lying, Peel was dead, but he didn't need to know that yet. they really just needed him to admit his intention of buying the weapon.

“I have no idea what you are talking about” Lars insisted.

“Listen” Villanelle said, letting her accent shine through to intimidate him.” This offer is the carrot, accept it now and we wont even have to show you the stick”

Eve nodded.

“My colleague is right, if you sign the papers, I have brought, singed by a judge from The Hauge we wont have to get unpleasant with you. But you have to take the deal right now”

“No, I have done nothing wrong, I have no idea who this Peel guy is or what weapon you are talking about”

Villanelle smiled, she was hoping he would say that.

Eve sighed, she was hoping he would take the deal.

“Fine” Eve said and put a recorder on the table and pressed play.

“I can play your sister tonight, what do you want to call me?” Villanelle’s slurry voice said from the machine.

“Caroline” they heard Klaus answer.  

There was some rustling.

“So did you?”

“Did I what?” his voice rang.

“You look like a powerful man who is used to getting what he wants, did you take your sister? Did you make her yours?”

They saw Lars’ eye get wider with every word he heard.

“Yes” he admitted on the tape.

 “Tell me, I want to relive it with you upstairs” upon playing this Eve realised that Villanelle’s moaning was still on their official recording, the one that would be used at evidence.  

“I was 18 she was 16, our parents weren’t home, she came home late from a party, dressed like a slut and still drunk. I just couldn’t help myself I had to have her, so I followed her into her room, watched her undress and then I took her right there on her bed.”

Upon hearing this Lars ran his fingers desperately through his hair.

“That could be anyone” He said, but his mannerism indicated that he had known about his before now.

“We also have footage,” Eve said “We know about your brother raping your sister for years, and about the abortions and if you don’t want the whole world to know you will testify”

Lars looked desperate, like he was weighing his options.

“will I still get immunity?” he asked.

Eve shook her head.

“No, that offer has expired. This is your choice now, testify and you might get a softer sentence, or we leak this to the press”   

 “I don’t want to go to jail” He said.

Villanelle stood op from where was sitting next to Eve and walked over to him, she turned his chair towards her and leaned into him. Staring him directly in the eyes.

“You will go to jail anyway, because Klaus wasn’t the only brother who raped Caroline was he? You needed payment for signing off on the abortions, didn’t you?” Villanelle continued “Your wife looks like Caroline too, and I bet that under her long sleeves and high neck-line she is covered in bruises, and all those marks on the walls and in the floor, she made those trying to escape from you. But who do you trust when your abusive husband is also the Minister of Justice, when he owns the police?”

Eve was shocked, even she hadn’t noticed that.

“So you will testify, because then at least you were only trying to buy a weapon, they wont know that you were also raping you little sister and abusing your wife”

Lars looked defeated and nodded.

“I will testify”

“Good, and don’t even think about running away because I will find you and believe me, it won’t look like an accident” Villanelle threatened.

And despite knowing that the couldn’t threaten their witnesses with physical violence Eve agreed with the sentiment.  

Eve threw the papers on the desk for him to sign, the affidavit saying that he was complicit in the intention to buy the weapon and one saying that he would testify against Aron Peel in court.

“We will find our own way out” Eve said after gathering everything.

Lars didn’t answer, but then again he’d just lost everything.

\-- --         

Once they were back in the car Eve had to ask.

“How did you know? That he had also raped his sister and was abusing his wife?”

Villanelle shrugged.

“I know a rapist when I see one, and the wife acted like my mother did, she was scared of her husband”

“You can talk to me you know” Eve said placing a hand on Villanelle’s thigh

“I know” Villanelle said taking the hand and lifting it to her lips to kiss it gently. “but for now, lets just go home”

“Okay” Eve said and started the car. Headed to the airport to meet with Kenny.  

The flight to London was only 2 hours but for Eve and Kenny it felt like 2 years.

Eve kept thing about what Villanelle had said, how she knew a rapist when she saw one. Had she been raped in the past?

All the while Villanelle kept pressing Kenny on his sexual preferences insisting on making a Tinder or Grindr account for him.

Once the plane landed Kenny hurriedly said goodbye and left the two women, getting as far away from Villanelle as he could.  

The entire ride home was silent, Eve couldn’t stop thinking.

“Eve, I can tell you are still thinking about it” Villanelle said as they pulled up in the driveway.

Eve sighed and turned off the car.

“I’m sorry, I just want to know what happened. Did someone hurt you?” She asked.

Villanelle turned and looked out of the window, in the direction of the house.

“A lot of people have hurt me” She answered.

“Oksana, tell me about your mother, you said she was scared of your father”

Villanelle nodded but didn’t turn to look at Eve.

“My mother was given to my father at 17 to pay off my grandfather debt to him. My father is a mobster in Russia, a big one, and my mother was right to be afraid of him, to this day I still don’t know if he killed her or not” she admitted. Eve couldn’t see it, but she had tears in her eyes threatening to fall.

“I’m so sorry” Eve said reaching out to touch Villanelle, but she quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and left the car, almost running to the house.

Eve closed her eyes and leaned back.

Why could things with Villanelle never just be easy.  

 

 


	9. How am I supposed to make you feel okay?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Returning home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit! that finale! the only thing that gives me faith is that Eve stabbed Villanelle in the ending of series 1 and we didnt know what would happen then but it turned out great, so fingers crossed we will get a great series 3 in 10 months time. 
> 
> i'm sorry for the gramma, i always write these after work at like 3 at night :P

Eve hadn’t even unbuckled her seatbelt when her phone rang. It was Niko.

“We really shouldn’t be talking” Eve said as a greeting

“Hey Eve, I know I know, I just needed to hear your voice” Niko slurred, he was clearly drunk.

“Are you drunk? Its 3 in the afternoon” the judgement in Eve’s voice was clear.

“Eve, Evie, I miss you so much! We can put all of this behind us, I promise, Gemma, she isn’t you” He pleaded.

“Niko…”

“You are my everything Eve, I’ve loved you since I met you. Please don’t leave me”

The words resounded in Eve’s ears she had begged him not to leave either, but he had done so anyway.

“You know I always imagined the two of us growing old together, refusing to be put in a home even though our kids insisted, but you never wanted kid did you? Whenever I would bring it up you’d say you were focusing on your career… but I guess you have a second chance with Villanelle, she’s what 23? She can still have children, if you don’t mind them coming from an insane killer that is.” He said.

But he was right on a few things, Eve never wanted children with him, her work didn’t permit it and he worked with kids every day, it just seemed wrong and redundant. But now she kind of did. Keeping the child was honestly still up in the air. Villanelle had gone all the way to Russia, at great risk apparently, to get her own crib for the baby, and seemed okay with the possibility of them keeping it, despite being a naturally jealous person. And yeah it would make more sense if it was the beautiful young, 25-year-old lover who had gotten pregnant, and not the soon to be divorced 41-year-old. The part she didn’t really want to think about, how did you raise a baby with a psychopath?  

Before she could reply to him her phone buzzed, Carolyn was calling her.

“Niko I have to go, eh go sober up and- yeah just take care of yourself.”

She didn’t give him a chance to reply before switching the call to Carolyn.

“Did you leave Villanelle alone at any point while you were in Denmark?” she asked right away.

“No, why”

“Are you sure? There wasn’t a single second she was alone?” Carolyn asked again.

“Well, she walked out of the Ministers office before me, but I caught up with her in two minutes” Eve explained a bit confused.

“The Minister is dead” came Carolyn’s weirdly calm voice.

“What? how?” Eve asked, she had been with him while Villanelle had left so she really couldn’t have killed him.  

“Apparently he had a heart attack a few hours after you left?”

“It’s not Villanelle then, I –“

“Eve listen I accepted Villanelle killing Aron Peel because we had the recordings of him admitting the whole thing with the weapon. But it was your idea to go after the buyers too and prosecute, not, execute them.”

“Carolyn please”

“No, I’m pulling the plug on this operation, you and Villanelle will be reassigned, the matter is closed” Carolyn yarned, she hated getting cross.

“Will we be reassigned separately or together?” Eve asked carefully, she had sort of been acting as Villanelle’s unofficial handler since Konstantin kept disappearing.

“I don’t know yet, it depends on my mood on Monday” Carolyn answered truthfully.

“Okay then, I will tell Oksana” Eve said not bothering to hide the disappointment in her eyes.

“Great, have a nice weekend” Carolyn said politely before hanging up.

Eve unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. She walked slowly up to the house. Out of the frying pan into the fire she thought.

When she was hit by a sweet smell from the kitchen. She took off her shoes and enteted.

There was Villanelle, in the kitchen, wearing Eve’s floral apron, baking.

“What are you making?” Eve asked   

“Sharlotka” Villanelle answered.

“Oh”

“It is a Russian recipe, my mother used to make it all the time”

“And you felt like making it today?”

“Yes”

“Okay then, I have some bad news by the way” Eve said.

“Tell me” Villanelle said cracking some eggs into a bowl.

“Carolyn called, apparently the Minister died a few hours after we left”

“Oh” Villanelle said mirroring Eve.

“Did you kill him?” Eve asked from the other side of the counter.

“No” Villanelle answered… honestly… Eve was shocked.

“Did you aid in his death in anyway?” Eve rephrased. Because she knew deep in her bones that they were the same, and there was no way this was a coincidence.

Villanelle sighed and stopped what was doing. She turned around and reached for the tin of tea bags on the shelve above her, once she had it she poured the tea bags out on the counter between them and picked out two white ones that said ‘ _A good long nap_ ’ on them and held them up for Eve to see.

“These are not tea, they are a drug which makes you fall asleep and then slows your heart and breathing until you die”

“You kept those in my tea bin? What if I drank it?” Eve asked outraged.

“Then you would have died peacefully.” Villanelle said with a shrug.

“So what did you do with this killer tea then?” Eve composed herself and asked.

“before you came down I was talking to the wife, I told her that I knew what he did to both her and his sister, and if she ever needed him to go to sleep and not wake up she should make him a nice calming cup of tea”

“So you gave her a tea bag?” Eve asked

“Yes and I told her to destroy it afterwards. I wanted to cut him in to pieces, but I didn’t want the wife to get blamed”

“That was oddly caring of you” was Eves only reply to all of that.

“So Carolyn thinks I killed him?” Villanelle asked.

“Yeah, the mission is shut down and she is relocating us, I don’t know if she will keep us together” Eve said.

Villanelle nodded, she would hate not working with Eve all day.

Then Eve’s phone rang again, could she not get a break?

“This is Eve” She greeted

“Hello Mrs. Polastri, you’ve booked an ultrasound scanning online this morning for next week. Well I’m calling to tell you that we’ve had a cancellation, would it be possible for you to come in today. In an hour?” the secretary asked.

“Yeah, we can do that, we will be there within the hour”

Villanelle pouted only hearing half the call and thinking it was work.

“Why do we have to go? I’m making cake” Villanelle said in a childish manner.

“Because the clinic got a cancellation and we have an appointment in an hour."

When she said that Villanelle’s smile widened.

\--- --- ---

They hurried to the clinic and waited for 30 minutes before being called in to the doctor.

“Hey again Mrs. Polastri, who is with you today” The Doctor said referring to Villanelle.

“I’m the girlfriend” Villanelle said in a heavy Russian accent.

“well Mrs polastri, lets have a look at baby.” She said emphasizing on the MRS part

And then she placed the wand into the cold gel on Eves belly and showed her the picture for the second time. When she could finally look away from the screen she looked at Villanelle who had tears shining in her eyes, but her whole face seemed lit up, almost joyful. That was when Eve made the final decision to keep the baby, she had never seen Villanelle so emotional and she wanted to see that look of happiness again.

“you seem to be 13 weeks along now” The doctor said, but Eve was only focused on Villanelle.

“Would you like a-”

“Yes” Villanelle interrupted.

\--- ---

After the returned home, with a big bag of McDonalds, Eve had found it hilarious that Villanelle couldn’t pronounce McDonalds. The word just didn't sit right in her mouth.

“Eve”

“Yeah” Eve said whipping her mouth with a napkin.

“My first pregnancy was when I was 16. It was with Max, Anna’s husband. One day I was at their apartment, but Anna had a meeting and wouldn’t be back for a few hours. “

“He raped you didn’t he?” Eve asked gently leaning in to cover Villanelle’s hand with her own.

Villanelle nodded.

“He blamed me for their problems, and to be fair I was a big part of the problem”

“That doesn’t give him the right to rape you”

“I know. When I told Anna what he’d done she slapped me for even saying such a thing, she thought I’d seduced him to fuck up their marriage”

“Did she know about the pregnancy?” Eve asked carefully

“She was the one who took me to get the abortion” Villanelle said with a lone tear running down her cheek.  


	10. In sickness and in health

“Wait, your first pregnancy? You’ve been pregnant more than once?” Eve asked surprised

Villanelle didn’t say anything, she just stared at their joined hands.

“Oksana, did Max hurt you again?” Eve asked

Villanelle shook her head and let out a cruel laugh.

“No I cut off his penis after the first time”

“So, someone else then? Who?”

“I- Lets just say that Handlers for Assassins aren’t typically Gentlemen, and that Konstantin is the first Handler I haven’t killed”

“You Handler raped you?”

“it’s wasn’t rape, I provoked him… a lot and he needed to establish dominance” Villanelle said.

At this Eve  

Got up from her seat and walked over to Villanelle, she pulled her chair out and kneeled in front of her, taking both of Villanelle’s hands in her own.

“It doesn’t matter what you said or did to him it was rape, do you hear me? You were in a vulnerable position and it wasn’t consensual, that makes it rape, regardless of what happened before it.” Eve was willing Villanelle to believe her, to see that it wasn’t her fault no matter what had happened.

When Villanelle didn’t respond Eve continued.

“How long did it go on for?”

“I killed him the second time he tried it, but at that point I was already pregnant… turns out I’m really fertile” Villanelle mumbled.

“How old were you?”

“20”

“What happened to the baby?”

Villanelle let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.

“I intended to keep it, at least I think I did, but when I was around 16 weeks pregnant I woke up one night in a pool of blood, for once it was my own”

Villanelle remembered the panic that ran thru her as she was woken up in the middle of the night by a stabbing pain in her stomach, her first instinct was to reach for the knife under her pillow, but when she turned on the light she realised that there wasn’t anyone in her apartment, but her sheets were soaked in blood. She laid there alone and in pain when she felt something release from her body, she looked down and saw an infant, a boy, the size of her palm. It had been red like a demon but still kind of looked like a baby. She didn’t cry afterwards, to this day she doesn’t know why she didn’t cry. She had picked him up, getting the bloody gel like mess on her hands, she inspected him for a second and named him Pavel, before getting up and emptying a Valentino shoe box. She gently placed him into it. She then changed her clothes and sheets and went down to bury the box in the nearby park. She hadn’t thought about it for years.     

“You said you’d gotten pregnant in Denmark too” Eve stated, bringing her out of her own thoughts.

“Yeah, that happened as I told you. I was drunk and forgot protection, I intended to get it removed but when I took down a target in Norway he kicked me many times in the stomach and after killing him I realised that I was bleeding.” Villanelle explained.

Eve hugged Villanelle close to her and just held her there for a while, neither of them saying anything.

\-- ---

When they returned to work the following Monday Carolyn had decided that splitting them up wasn’t worth the hassle and that no one in the building was equipped to handle Villanelle. But they were both still punished for the incident, with mind numbing desk work. Eve was filling out all the paperwork on the Peel case, all of it, even the ones that had already been done she had to redo. Villanelle had been tasked with listing all of the equipment used for the entire operation, by hand. She had to list every single serial number by date of use.    

After a week or so Villanelle got sick, not finish your will and testament sick, simply the flu, but holy hell she could make it seem like she was dying.

She had been sent home on Tuesday because she kept coughing and complaining. On Wednesday Eve came to work looking like a hanged cat.

“Are you alright?” Kenny asked a bit concerned.

“Villanelle is sick” Eve replied picking up the coffee cup on his desk and drinking from it.

A booming laugh came from the doorway behind her.

“Villanelle is sick?” Konstantin asked highly amused.

Eve just nodded and kept drinking. Yeah coffee was bad for the baby but without it she may just go home and commit murder-suicide.

“How did you manage to get away from her then?” He asked.

“I crushed two sleeping pills and put them in her hot chocolate” Eve replied embarrassed.

Konstantin laughed again.

“Yes the only way to leave is to drug her, I did this too”

“What are you talking about?” Kenny asked looking at the two of them.

“When Villanelle is sick she is so clingy and whiney, she needs your constant attention.” Konstantin continued “I took care of her once when I new to being her Handler, she got bronchitis from a target and kidnapped a – what are they called? The children doctors?”

“A paediatrician?” Eve offered.

Konstantin nodded.

“Yes a paediatrician, to diagnose her and get her antibiotics. I had to watch over her then. Worse 10 days of my life, and I’ve been to a Serbian prison for 2 months.”

“What happened then?” Kenny asked.

“She refused to eat but demanded that I make her pancakes, when I went out to buy the groceries she kept calling me to make sure I was coming back, when I needed to use the toilet she would sit on the other side of the door with her duvet over her because she couldn’t stand being alone” he said almost fondly.

He then looked at Eve.

“When Villanelle is sick, it is like having a child.”     

“So you just left her then?” Kenny asked Eve somewhat judgemental.

“Well, I wrote her a note and I made sure she had food and water close by” she tried justifying.

Kenny shook his head but went back to work.

\-- Meanwhile at Eve’s house—

Villanelle was sleeping heavily do to the sleeping pills Eve had slipped her earlier. So she didn’t hear the lock on the door turn, she didn’t hear the steppes in the hall or in the kitchen, she didn’t hear the figure walking behind her on couch, not until a hand touched her shoulder.

She grabbed the knife she had hidden beneath her and sprang into action, her eyes wild and searching, then they landed on Niko who was slowly backing away from her with his hands raised.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t sure that you were alive, you looked dead” he explained.

Villanelle tried to look intimidating, but she was dizzy from standing up so quick and felt like she was about to vomit.

“What are you doing here Moustache man?” she asked trying to stop her body from swaying.

“I’m just picking up the gift I bought for my mom, I forgot it in the office” He replied.

“Does Eve know you are here?”

“… No, I didn’t think it was worth mention-“He didn’t finish before Villanelle collapsed onto the floor.

He thought for a second, just a second about just leaving her there, but decided against it.

He clumsily picked her up, she was heavier than she looked, and placed her pack onto the couch. He stared at her for a second, what this what Eve saw? This beautiful young girl, laying there so peacefully?

He was about to head up stairs for the present when he heard Villanelle groan and then throw up. He sighed and went into the kitchen to fetch a glass of cold water and a nice cold towel.

“Here” He said handing her the water and placing the towel on her forehead.

“Is it poisoned?” Villanelle asked half-jokingly.

“Guess you’ll have to find out” Niko replied.

Villanelle looked at him for a second before drinking the water in one go.

“Do you need some painkillers?” He asked not unkindly.

Villanelle nodded with a small pout, laying there she seemed so small, so innocent, it almost fooled him.

“Alright” He said getting up, he took the soiled bucket with him to rinse out in the sink.

By the time he returned Villanelle was fast asleep, he put the pills on the coffee table and went to get the present from the office. Walking upstairs he noticed that the pictures of him and Eve had disappeared, they hadn’t been replaced, but they had still been removed. He would like to think that he was a good man, who wouldn’t go snooping in his wife’s bedroom, with her girlfriend passed out downstairs, but he wasn’t. he gently pushed the door open, knowing that it creaked, the bedroom looked pretty much the same, except the bed was new and there were more expressive and expensive clothes spread across the floor. The bed looked more expensive too, and a bit out of place compared to the rest of the room. On the left side bed table, Eve’s side, laid a pair of reading glasses and a book about Ted Bundy. On the right side, what he assumed was Villanelle’s side, was a small folding knife and a bracelet.

With one last look he left the bedroom, he understood now, he truly wasn’t welcome, this wasn’t his home anymore.

He went to the office and found the present, but when he pulled it down from the shelf a small box fell down with it. He picked it up, he feared what he already knew as he opened it. It was a…

A key? A copy of their house key? It had a small tag on it which simply read.

“Waterloo”

He pondered for a second, then he remembered how much Eve loved ABBA and especially that song, he remembered her dancing around in the kitchen singing.

“ _Waterloo. I was defeated, you won the war. Waterloo. Promise to love you forever more. Waterloo.  Couldn’t escape if I wanted to. Waterloo. Knowing my fate is to be with yo-“_

He paused, it wasn’t a ring, but knowing the meaning behind the wording it might as well have been. It was a declaration of love.

He quickly put and back and went down again, when I was at the foot of the stairs, he glanced over at Villanelle, she looked paler than when he arrived. He hurried over to her and placed a hand on her forehead, god she was burning up.

“Villanelle” He said shaking her a bit.

“Villanelle” He said louder, shaking her harder.

When she didn’t respond the third time he called an ambulance.

The paramedics arrived shortly after, and he gave them her drivers licences for identification. After looking her over they decided to bring her to the hospital and asked if he was family. He nodded.

How do you explain that she is your wife’s girlfriend?

Villanelle woke up but was unresponsive the entire way to the hospital.

When they got there the paramedics asked him to wait in the waiting room while they got Oksana, god that sounded weird, to a doctor.

While waiting Niko realised he should probably call Eve.

\-- Back at the office -- --

Eve was finishing another boring report when her phone rang, she picked it up without looking expecting it to be Villanelle, complaining.

“Hey Darling, I’ll be home soon” Eve said upon answering.

“Eve, it’s Niko”

“Oh, Hey…” Eve said weirdly.

“Don’t panic, but I’m at the hospital”

“Okay, are you alright?” She asked, they might be getting a divorce, but she still cared about him.

“It’s not me. I’m at the hospital with Villanelle, she passed out and is unresponsive” he explained.

Eve’s entire body froze, it felt like she was made of glass and someone hit her with a sledgehammer.


	11. Knowing me, knowing you

Eve rushed to the hospital, she broke several laws getting there so fast. But that didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting to Villanelle.

A million thoughts ran through her mind. Why had Niko been at her house, why was he the one talking her to the hospital and most importantly, what was happening with Villanelle?

When Eve had left her that morning she had been fine, well not fine she had a fever and was coughing and shivering like crazy, but this was Villanelle they talking about, she was tougher that some flu. Once Eve arrived at the hospital she hurried into the ER waiting area and saw Niko. She didn’t know why, maybe comfort, maybe habit, but she immediately hugged him. After a few seconds he released her.

“Hey Eve, she’s with the doctor right now” he said.

 “What happened?” Eve asked

“I went to the house to pick up the present for my mom, you know the vase? When I got there Villanelle was on the couch, sick, I talked to her a bit and then she passed out, when she woke up I gave her some water and sat with her for a bit. But when I came back after getting the present she was completely devoid of colour and unresponsive, so I called an ambulance.” He explained.

“Wait, you took care of her?” Eve asked, a bit amazed, she would honestly expect him to just leave her, she would have left Gemma.

Niko nodded wordlessly, why was that so unbelievable? He wasn’t a terrible person after all.

They sat for just under 2 hours before a Doctor came out.

“Relatives of Oksana Astankova?” he asked, mispronouncing her name.

Eve nodded.

“I’m her-“ she stopped, family member were the only ones who got medical updates on patients, she wasn’t sure being her girlfriend, God that sounded weird at the age of 41, would be enough. But before she could ponder anymore Niko stepped up.

“Oksana is our niece, my sister’s daughter” He explained.

The Doctor looked like he didn’t entirely believe him. Niko sighed

“Listen, my sister sent Oksana here in hopes of her getting a better life, she is not a minor and I’m telling you we are related. Do I need to call my sister in Minsk to explain it to you or will you tell me why my niece ended up in the hospital with a cold?” He said assertively, and wow Eve thought, that side of him rarely came out, why would he fight like that when he didn’t really like Villanelle?

The Doctor cleared his throat, a bit embarrassed, before answering.

“Yes eh sorry, Miss Astankova didn’t have a common cold, she had a lung infection and the bacteria somehow got into her blood. That’s why she was vomiting excessively, shivering and fainting.”

“So what do we do? Antibiotics?” Eve asked nervousely.

“Typically yes, but so far she is not responding to what we’ve given her, we have tried 3 different kinds and she seems to be immune to all of them, has she been on a lot of antibiotics before?” He asked

Eve thought for a second and yeah that seemed like a believable option, she would have gotten stabbed or shot before, and knowing Villanelle she wouldn’t go to a doctor, she would most likely just take a few antibiotics and painkillers till the wound healed, not realising that taking them like that would build up an immunity.

“Yes, she has been abusing them a bit” Eve admitted.

The doctor nodded.

“Are there any allergies we should know of? Is she or has she been pregnant?” he asked trying to pinpoint what they could and couldn’t give her.

“Yeah, she is allergic to Codeine and she has been pregnant before” Eve felt like she was betraying Villanelle by volunteering this information, but if it could help get her better Eve would betray her.  

“Alright, we would like to keep her here for a few days, until we know which antibiotics we can get her and how well they are working.”

“Can I, eh can we see her?” Eve pleaded.

“I don’t see why not. Room 201” He nodded politely before leaving.

Eve left in a hurry and Niko slowly followed behind.

Once she got to the door she more or less threw it open and entered like a storm, her eyes searching the room quickly before landing on Villanelle laying on her side in the bed. An IV dripping into her arm. She stopped for a second, she looked so small, so fragile as she laid there. Was that how it had been in France after Eve had stabbed her? Had she looked this young then?

She approached the bed and reached out to touch her shoulder, when it made contact with the rough hospital gown Villanelle groaned a bit and moved away from the touch muttering something in Russian.

Niko let out an amused laugh behind her which caused Eve to look at him with fire and fury in her eyes.

“No no, it was just funny what she said, she must have thought you were the doctor because she called you a used condom” He explained.

“You speak Russian?” Eve asked, they had known each other so long but he had never mentioned it.

“A bit, I had it in school in Poland”    

While they spoke Villanelle had turned to face them, a bit annoyed at being woken up.

“Eve, what are you doing here?” she asked, not really sure where “here” was.

“You are in the hospital Darling you had a lung infection which got into you blood” Eve gently explained while running her fingers thru her sweaty hair.

“I told you I was sick” Villanelle tried to sound gloating, but the last words got caught on a cough, so she just ended up sounding pathetic.

“Yeah Luv, you did” Eve had tears in her eyes, secretly she blamed the pregnancy.

“Moustache, he helped me?” it was half a question half a statement.

“Yeah, I called an ambulance” he said speaking up for the first time, he felt like he was intruding on a private moment.

“because of the way you have been taking antibiotics, and don’t deny it, they need to keep you for a day or two” Eve explained, knowing Villanelle wouldn’t react well. And she didn’t, she began protesting loudly, so loudly that a nurse came in to check on them.

“No Eve don’t make me!” Villanelle whined, she would deny it later, but it was a whine.

“Oksana, you have to, the doctors need to get you better before you can go home” Eve tried.

“No” Villanelle pulled out the IV needle in her arm and pointed it threateningly at Eve who just sighed.

“Oksana put that back, we both know you wont stab m-“ Eve didn’t get to finish before she felt the light sting of the thin needle being stabbed into her arm.  

Eve stared at the needle now sticking out of her arm and then up at Villanelle.

“Why?” She asked tiredly.

“let me come home, please”

“After you stabbed me?” Eve tried to hide her amusement, in all honestly Eve had hurt her worse and Eve knew that Villanelle could have killed her with the needle if she had wanted to, so this was just a harmless little rebellion after being told no.

“Sorry, Baby” Villanelle said, she was trying to be charming, Eve could tell. But her sickly pale skin, greasy and mattered hair really wasn’t doing it for Eve.

“No” Eve insisted, which lead to Villanelle desperately trying to get out of bed, she more or less had to flung herself off of the bed with all of her strength which resulted in her landing on the floor, face first.

“Oh my God” Eve said moving to get Villanelle back in bed, but the moment she was on her feet she made a break for the door. Only to be stopped by Niko who swept her, kicking and screaming off of her feet and carried her back to bed. His back hurting the entire time, but damn did he feel manly.

After placing her on the bed he held her shoulders down for a few moments till she stilled.

“остановка” he said firmly.

“Я хочу домой” Villanelle said in a small voice.

“I know, and you will, just give it a few days” Niko replied gently in English.

Eve felt a bit left out, with the two of the connecting in Russian, maybe she should learn it? She could ask Konstantin to teach her.

“Oh” Eve said suddenly, “Before I forget, we lied to the Doctors to see you, they think you are Niko’s niece from Minsk”

“What?” Villanelle asked indignant.

“it was the only way we’d get to see you” Eve explained.

“No not that, you said I was from Minsk? My accent doesn’t sound anything like I’m from Minsk” Villanelle sounded almost disgusted.

Eve and Niko laughed at that, _that_ had been her problem with it? Not Niko being her “ _Uncle._ ”  

“Yeah so if the doctors ask, we are you aunt and uncle” Eve confirmed.

Villanelle let out a laugh which was cut short by a cough.

“What family drama we have, me, sleeping with my uncle’s wife. It could be a soap opera” she joked.

“Yeah, sure, just get some rest. I will be back tomorrow” Eve said leaning over to kiss Villanelle, forgetting that Niko was standing right next to them. She changed direction last second and kissed her on the cheek instead.

“Eh bye” Niko said awkwardly patting her hand.

“Нико, спасибо” Villanelle called after him as he left with Eve.

“what did she say?” Eve asked the moment they’d closed the door to her room.

Niko shrugged, “she just thanked me.”

“She thanked you?” Eve asked, amazed,

“Yeah?” Niko wondered why that was so special.

“Oksana never thanks anyone, ever” Eve explained.

“Oh” was all Niko could say.

As they were walking out to the parking lot Niko suddenly grabbed Eve’s arm to stop her. She looked surprised as she turned to face him.

“Yes?”

He pulled out some papers from his pocket, along with a pen and handed them to her.

“It says that our joint accounts will be closed and divided equally, you are buying me out of the house, since you put the most money into it when we bought it I’m only asking 50.000£ for my share. But I will be keeping the cabin in Scotland and buying you out of that, so you only need to pay me 38.000£. I also figured that you and Villanelle would want to redo the house so I’m taking most of the furniture.” Niko said all in one breath.

Eve nodded.

“I’m keeping the microwave, it’s a good microwave”

And Niko couldn’t help but laugh as he nodded.

“Sign then, and we are divorced”

Eve put the papers down on the hood of a random car. He had already singed both copies, he was letting her go.

She paused, should she tell him about the baby? Was she being a terrible person for keeping it from him? He had always wanted children, and here they stood in a hospital parking lot about to finalise their divorce and he didn’t know that she was pregnant with his child.

“Eve? Are you okay?” Niko asked when she didn’t sign the papers.

“Niko, I need to tell you…” she changed her mind. “That I wish you the best, with all of my heart I hope that you will be happy with Gemma”

Niko looked at the ground, guilt clear on his face

“Niko?”

“I didn’t know how to tell you Eve, Gemma is pregnant” He said carefully, as if the news would break her.

Eve almost laughed, he had been begging for kids for years and now unbeknownst to him both his wife and his mistress were pregnant at the same time.

Eve quickly signed the papers and hugged him.

“Congratulations, you are going to be a great father” She said, and she meant it, he would be.

As they parted Niko kissed her cheek.

“Will you be going back to your maiden name Miss Bak or will you be taking a different surname?” he teased her.

“Oh God, I couldn’t imagine going back to being Eve Bak, that was a young naïve girl, I think I will hold on to Polastri a bit longer” Eve said not realising that she gave it away, she didn’t intend to keep Polastri for a very long time.

Niko nodded, not pushing the subject, he took his copy of the divorce papers and sighed.

“It’s a good thing we spend so much money on those lawyers to figure all of this out for us” he joked.

“Yeah, well at least we helped those poor starving divorce lawyers” Eve replied with a smile as she took off her ring and handed it to him.

With one last hug they parted, now in more ways than one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> остановка- Stay  
> Я хочу домой- I want to go home


	12. What a difference a day makes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Villanelle at the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some lines are from A slap on Titan, see if you can find them :D

Eve went to work the next day, Villanelle was still at the hospital, but she was getting better, so Eve saw no reason to miss work. Jess was there that day, she had left her kid with its father, honestly Eve couldn’t remember if she’d had a boy or a girl, and at this point it was embarrassing to ask.

Jess was the first to notice that Eve wasn’t wearing her wedding ring, and honestly in a building full of spies it should have gone faster.

“…So… No more Niko?” it wasn’t really a question.

“Nope, signed the papers yesterday, I’m officially divorced” Eve responded.

“And now you are with Villanelle, living with her?” there was some judgement in her voice, Eve could tell.

“just say what it is you want to say, don’t tip toe around it” Eve said.

“Are you sure that it’s smart? Getting into a serious relationship with a psycho?” She asked.

Eve was quiet for a moment.

“What Oksana and I have can’t be explained, I know that you don’t understand it, and maybe you never will. But we love each other, it’s not some fleeting fancy or obsession, I really love her. For the first time in my life I feel wide awake, and I realised I’ve been sleepwalking thru most of my life and been content with it. But when I met Oksana something in me woke up and it’s yearning for her” Eve tried to put her feelings into words, she was never very good at it.

Jess nodded.

“As long as she doesn’t break your heart”

Eve let out a breath.

“I think there is a bigger chance of me breaking hers”

“So…” Jess began.

“Yes”

“You really have a thing for eastern Europeans don’t you?” she teased.

“Fuck off”

“But it’s true, Nikolas Polastri and then Oksana Astankova. It’s the accent isn’t it? I bet it’s the accent” Jess mused

“Niko didn’t have an accent” Eve tried to defend herself.

“I know, and you ended up divorcing him” Jess concluded and really Eve couldn’t argue with that.

“Have you told her by the way?”

“Oksana, oh God, I forgot” Eve almost laughed, she had forgotten to tell Villanelle, her girlfriend that she had divorced her husband. Oops.

“Well then, make it romantic or something, Villanelle seems like she would appreciate a grand gesture” Jess suggested.

Yeah, Villanelle would appreciate a grand gesture, but how exactly would she go about it? Villanelle was the one who did the grand gestures in their relationship.

 -Meanwhile at the hospital-

It had been 4 hours since Villanelle had last seen a nurse or doctor, they had been avoiding her since the _incidence._

There had been a small fire at a local nursing home over night which had filled the hospital a bit with elderly patients who had inhaled smoke. One such patient was Elenore Norman, senile, 89 years old and unfortunate enough to be place in Villanelle’s room.

Now you have to understand Villanelle hated hospitals and was bored out of her mind when she did it. The entire night she had been playing mind games on the poor woman, first letting her believe that Villanelle was her daughter, then that her daughter had been murdered, when that was no longer amusing she tried to make her believe that they were prisoners of war in a Vietnamese war camp. Poor Elenore bought that one for a while. But then the doctor, followed by a nurse came in, and rolled Elenore away, never to be seen again.

Villanelle was sure she would die of boredom alone in that hospital room, but 30 minutes or so after, a cute nurse came in, she was a tall, flat chested redhead, and honestly if Villanelle wasn’t with Eve she would have seduced that girls so hard. She had to do some blood work and check her vitals. When she sat Villanelle up to listen to her lung Villanelle couldn’t help herself, she leaned back against her.

“Have you ever had an orgie?” she asked in a soft tone.

The nurse blushed furiously before clearing her throat.

“You really shouldn’t be asking me that”

“Because I have and let me tell you…” Villanelle then proceeded to tell her the story about the donkey, the bystander injury and the roof collapse.  

By the end of the story the poor nurse was mortified and in tears, as she ran from the room she could hear Villanelle yelling that she was pretty sure the situation would qualify as a war crime. Legend has it that the nurse quit her job that very day.

That was now four hours ago and only now did a nurse appear in her doorway.

It was a different nurse that came, an older harsher looking woman, good Villanelle deserved to be tested against the best.

The nurse demanded a urine sample from Villanelle, the other nurse hadn’t done it before running off. And of course Villanelle absolutely refused, she would rather get shot in the elbow than pee in a cup.

After threats of being moved to the psych ward it ended with Villanelle angrily peeing in a cup in a hospital bathroom while screaming at the nurse that she’d once pulled a man’s colon through his esophagus, which was actually true, of course he was cut open and long dead, but it sounded less cool, so she generally omitted that.

After the nurse left Villanelle once again ripped out her IV and got out of the bed, she was bored, and she wanted to look around. She wandered and wandered until she reached the maternity ward with a sign that read “ _No Children Allowed_ ” Villanelle found it hilarious. She saw a woman standing facing a glass wall and walked over to her.

“That one is mine” The woman said and pointed to a baby girl with large ears.

“The one that looks like Dumbo?” Villanelle asked.

The woman laughed and nodded.

“My husband said the same thing, he has autism, so I’m very used to the hard truths”

“I do not have autism” Villanelle said bluntly.

“maybe not, but you seem like you either don’t know that what you are saying is hurtful or maybe you are saying it because it is hurtful” The woman said.

Villanelle stared at her for a second before shrugging.

” I don’t know” she said honestly.

The woman nodded.

“That’s okay too. So which one it yours?” she asked.

“No one, but my girlfriend is pregnant, so I just wanted to see what a real baby looked like” Villanelle admitted.

“It can be tough for someone with a personality disorder to connect with a baby, and it’s okay to not love it right away, it can be learned over time” The woman said glancing at Villanelle

“Who are you?” Villanelle asked

“Doctor Otis, I’m a psychologist” the woman extended her hand to Villanelle, but Villanelle didn’t shake it.

“I’ve seen a lot of people like you struggling when a baby is on the way, but a good way to think about it is that you love your girlfriend, and this baby will be a piece of her, so by extension you will love it too.”

Before Villanelle could reply the angry nurse from before called her name and marched over to her, forcing her back to her room.   

   

-With Eve-

After a few hours of work Eve received a call from the hospital, they had found an antibiotic that worked on Villanelle and were not so subtly demanding that Eve come pick her up, now.

So Eve left work to pick her up, she knew she shouldn’t have left her alone in the hospital, that poor staff, what could Villanelle have done to them?

When she made her way into the front desk Villanelle was dressed and sitting in a wheelchair, a cross nurse behind her. Once she saw Eve her eyes lit up and she got out of the wheelchair, a bit unsteadily, but she managed.  

“Aunty!” she exclaimed before throwing herself at Eve, catching her lips in a passionate kiss. Eve kissed her back for a few seconds before remembering that the nurse thought she was Villanelle’s aunt.

“Oksana” she scolded, looking embarrassed.

If this surprised the nurse it didn’t show.

Eve steadied Villanelle as they walked back to the car.

“Eve?” Villanelle asked once she was seated.

“Yeah?”

“How to you tell dogwood apart from other wood?” Villanelle asked

“Oh God, kill me” Eve replied

“By it’s Bark” Villanelle said, laughing at her own joke. So yeah she was still affected by the pain medication they had given her.  

Villanelle looked like she was about to say something but stopped when she noticed Eve’s hand. She reached out and grabbed it.  

“You are not wearing your ring?” She asked.

“No, God this is not how I wanted to tell you, after we left last night Niko and I signed the papers, we are officially divorced” Eve explained.

Villanelle wordlessly pressed a kiss to Eve’s now empty ring finger before kissing her gently on the mouth.

Eve returned the kiss and they stayed in the parking lot for a little while.

When they finally got home all Villanelle wanted to do, well not _all_ she wanted, but all she _could_ do was cuddle on the couch with a movie, the purge, a nice cup of tea and Eve’s old woollen blanket.

They stayed like that till Eves phone rang and she had to move, she looked at the caller id and Oh God, Oh No, it was her mother.

“Hey mom” She said as she answered, she noticed the way Villanelle’s head turned around to look at her, with those big doe eyes of hers.

“Why did I have to hear from Helena that our two children had gotten divorced? What kind of daughter doesn’t tell her own mother that first?” Mrs. Bak yelled thru the phone.

“I’m sorry mom, I forgot”

“You forgot you got divorced?!” she yelled.

“No my I didn’t forget! I forgot to call you!” Eve was getting angry now, her mother had always been a bitch and it had only gotten worse between them since Eve’s father died.

“Anyway, I am coming down to you next week, we will figure out how to get your husband back.”

“No mom, really I don’t want Niko anymore, and he is not my husband” Eve tried.

“I will be there next Wednesday” Her mother said in a strict tone before hanging up.

Villanelle stared at Eve.

“So, I get to meet your mother then?”


	13. Meeting Mother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, i've been sick and i couldn't decide how the meeting should go.

“I didn’t realise you had a mother” Villanelle said as Eve sat back down.

“Everyone has a mother” Eve answered.

“I didn’t realize yours was still alive”

“Hey! I’m not that old”

Eve hit her with a pillow when Villanelle just shrugged at her comment.

Eve’s mother did not arrive on Wednesday, apparently she had a house issue back in Halifax, something with plumbing and couldn’t get to London before Friday evening. That way she could spend the whole weekend there. Eve was certain that she had planned it that way.

Eve’s mother did not know about Villanelle, Niko hadn’t told his parents and they hadn’t told her. So now Eve had to be the one to explain to her 66-year-old Asian mother that she liked girls, that she had left her husband and was now in a relationship with a 25-year-old Russian. Oh and she was pregnant with her ex-husband’s baby, but she wasn’t going to tell him, he had also knocked his mistress up, so there was that. She had instructed Villanelle to be on her best behaviour. She had really, really, stretched the importance of that. Villanelle had asked her if it would make her mother more comfortable if she wasn’t MI6 consultant Oksana Astankova, but someone more British and conventional. Eve had thought about it before turning her down, it didn’t matter where she was from or what her name was, her mother would hate her for being a girl either way.

So here they were, Eve’s mother had called her and told her that she was 15 minutes away. Eve was panicking, running around cleaning everything, making sure that nothing incriminating was laying around.

Villanelle however was clam, unusually calm, she was humming some old tune while preparing the last of the food, that’s right Villanelle had cooked for the occasion. At first Eve hadn’t believed that Villanelle could cook, but after explaining that she had studied with a French chef, and then cooking a test meal, Eve believed her, so they were having filet mignon with oven baked potatoes, vegetables and a very expensive red wine that Eve couldn’t have.   

Just as Villanelle had opened the wine and poured herself a glass the doorbell rang. Eve hurried across the room to open the door.

“엄마, 여행은 어땠 니?” Eve asked her mother in Korean.

Once again Villanelle wished that she had taken Korean instead of Japanese, but when trying to kill a member of the Yakuza, Japanese was simply more useful. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other while listening to Eve and her mother speaking Korean from the hall. Should she go out and say hello or stay and wait for her to enter the kitchen?

In the end the choice was made for her when she saw Mrs. Bak enter the room. She was relatively short, though she was taller than Eve, she had curly grey hair held back by a hairclip at the nape, and a soft elegant face, she looked like Eve.

Villanelle put her wineglass on the table and went over to greet her.

“Mrs. Bak, nice to meet you, I’m Oksana Eve’s-“ she said while extending her hand

“Oksana, what is that? Ukrainian?” Mrs. Bak asked, while shaking Villanelle’s hand.

“It’s Russian” Villanelle said with a smile.

“I see, I’m Hyo Bak, Eve’s mother, I am afraid Oksana from Russia, that my daughter has not told me who you are” She said while keeping a firm grip on Villanelle’s hand.

“Would you like a glass of wine?” Villanelle asked instead of taking the bait.

Mrs Bak nodded and let go of Villanelle.

Villanelle moved gracefully into the kitchen and poured another glass from the same bottle as hers, she also opened a bottle of alcohol-free Chardonnay for Eve.

When she returned she once again tried turning on the charm.

“Mrs. Bak, I must say I really love your brooch, it looks French pre-war, maybe from the 30’s” Villanelle pointed out.

Eve accepted the glass from Villanelle with a surprised look.

Mrs. Bak nodded

“it was my mothers, my father was stationed in France during the war and brought it home for her.”

“You’ve never told me that” Eve noted.

“You’ve never asked” Mrs. Bak answered simply as she took a seat at the table.

Villanelle motioned for Eve to sit while she served the food.

“So tell me Osaka, what do you do?” Mrs Bak asked after taking the first bite “You must be a chef”

“Mom it’s Oksana and you know it” Eve said in an annoyed tone. Her mother had done this with every boyfriend she´d ever had. For the first year of their marriage she called Niko “Nike.”

But Villanelle simply smiled, unphased, but then again she was a trained killer, a dinner with her future mother-in-law wouldn’t scare her.

“I work with Eve, that is actually how we met, well I was working for the KGB, so we weren’t really on the same side at first. But she recruited me and now I work for the British Government.” Villanelle kind of explained. And honestly if you boiled it down it sounded kind of believable.

“Ah, so you are an analyst like Eve” She asked, while steady switching between eating and drinking.

Villanelle shot a glance at Eve who nodded silently.

“Yes, I consult on some of their cases”

“Are you new to England” Mrs. Bak asked.

“What do you mean?” Villanelle asked, unsure of where Eve’s mother was going with this.

“Since you are living with my daughter? Have you not found an apartment yet? “

Villanelle looked down on her untouched food, so Eve really hadn’t told her mother anything about her, about their life? What could she say, it really wasn’t her place to out Eve, should she lie?

“Mom, I told you Oksana and I are living together, because we are together” Eve said after a few moments of unbearable silence.

The comment was followed by silence too, it seemed like no one knew what to say, or how to say it, the only sound was a car driving past on the street outside.

Mrs. Bak sighed.

“I always thought it would be your brother, I guess I owe your father 30 bucks”

“What?” Eve exclaimed.

“Your father and I made a bet when you were around 6 and Edward was 9, and Eddie was friends with that boy John, you know the fairy one? And I was sure that Eddie was gay too.”

“Oh God!”

“And when he was in college he had that roommate, Allan, I thought for sure they were dating” Mrs. Bak continued.

“Mom”

“What? I am saying that I’m okay with you dating Oksana”

Mrs. Bak turned to Villanelle.

“How old are you dear?” She asked

“I’m 25, but trauma has aged me”

Mrs. Bak laughed at that, not really knowing that Villanelle meant it.

“So you traded your husband in for a younger model, and your father always said that you couldn’t drive a bargain worth shit”

This time it was Villanelle turn to laugh, no Eve wasn’t the best negotiator, but she had managed to convince Villanelle not to kill her, even after Eve stabbed her. So she had to give her some credit.

“So tell me Dear, how does your family feel about you dating an older woman?” Mrs. Bak kindly asked Villanelle.

“Eh my family is dead, so they don’t mind I guess”

“I’m so sorry to hear that” Eve’s mom said softly.

Villanelle shrugged.

“It’s okay it was a long time ago”

“But surely not all of them can be dead?” She pushed.

“My mother, she killed herself when I was young, and my father died in car accident a few years later, I was raised by Nun’s” Villanelle explained without looking at Mrs. Bak.

Eve thought for a second, she knew that Villanelle’s father was alive and leading a fraction of some Moscow gang, Villanelle’s brother and sister were also still alive but her older sister had only taken her brother in and left Villanelle, but she had no idea about Villanelle’s mother, for all Eve knew she could be alive. Eve generally believed Villanelle, or their relationship wouldn’t work, but on matters about her family Villanelle tended to lie, a lot, she was certain that not even Konstantin knew the full story of what had happened during Villanelle’s childhood.  

Eve had been deep in thought and hadn’t noticed that the conversation had moved on.

“So, you said you and Eve met through the KGB?”

“Oh yes, I was working for the KGB in Russia at the time, our cases overlapped, I can't say too much but it was about a very beautiful and skilled assassin in Europe, after the case Eve recruited me and we sort of just clicked” Villanelle explained with a dreamy look on her face that Eve couldn’t tell was real or not.

“How romantic, I met Eves father during the Vietnam war, well the end of it in ’75 but it still counts. I was a nurse in a rehabilitation centre here in London and he was a brave American solider wounded in battle and send to England by mistake.”

This time it was Mrs. Bak who got the dreamy look on her face.

“The Vietnam war? But you would have 19 or something”

Mrs. Bak laughed and nodded.

“I was 21 and he was 25 at the time, when he was well enough he returned to the states, but we kept in touch, a year later he showed up at the hospital I worked at and proposed. We got married the next month”

“Wow, that is a very romantic story” Villanelle said with a smile while Eve rolled her eyes, she had heard that story millions of times and her mother always left out the bits about her father leaving his fiancé in America 2 months before their wedding only to get married on the same day to a different woman in a different country, or her mother’s family not approving of her new Korean-American husband when they had worked so hard to find a nice Korean-English husband for her. But sure in broad strokes it was a cute story.   

The three of them continued a pleasant conversation during the rest of the main course and was only interrupted when Eve got up to clear the table and bring in the cake Villanelle had made for dessert, yes she had gone all out.

When she returned and was about to carve the cake when her mom dropped the bomb.

“So, have you told Niko that you are pregnant?”

“What?” Eve asked

“Oh please, I’ve had two babies myself and all of my sisters have been pregnant, I can tell when a woman is pregnant, even if you are trying to hide it” Her mother simply stated before taking a sip of her wine.

Eve sighed, defeated and sat back down in her chair.

“No I haven’t told him” She replied.

“You’ve said for years that he’d been begging you to have kids”

“Yeah, and now his mistress is pregnant, so I guess he is happy” there was a bit of bit to Eves comment.

“What?” Villanelle asked, and oh right Eve had forgotten to tell her that.

“Yeah he told me when we signed the papers, Gemma is pregnant” Eve explained, mostly for Villanelle’s benefit.

“So you are not going to tell him about this baby?” Her mother rephrased.

Eve shook her head.

“No, this baby is mine, ours, he has his own family now and I have mine”

“I don’t agree with that choice Eve, but it’s yours to make not mine, that kid deserves a father and Niko deserves to know that he is having a child with you”

“But mom, that’s where you’re wrong, he is not having a child _with_ me, he is having a child by me and I don’t feel like making him chose between the two women he got pregnant. I’m with Oksana and this is our child” from the way Eve spoke Villanelle could tell that she had been thinking about this for a while, and she agreed with the logic, it would do neither couple any good if Niko was forced to split his time between them.

Mrs. Bak nodded.

“Okay… I’m just happy to be getting another grandbaby” She said with excitement in her voice.

Eve’s brother had been 19 when their father died and therefore their mother couldn’t force him back to England like she could with Eve. So Edward, Eddie, had stayed in the states and now had a wife and 3 kids there, and while her mother visited them for Christmas every year it wasn’t the same as having a grandkid who was only a 4-hour drive or a 1-hour plane ride away.

After dessert Mrs. Bak demanded to speak with Villanelle alone, so Eve went upstairs to prepare the guest bed in the office.

Once she opened the door she saw the, now white, crib standing in the middle of the room. She had forgotten that they’d put it in there the day before, after letting it dry on the back terrace. When she went to move it, it was heavy, but she could pull it out of the room and into the bedroom, she accidently pulled on a lose panel at the headboard. The back of it was engraved, like someone had carved it in there with a knife or screwdriver. The writing was in Russian, she should probably just slide the panel back and leave it for Villanelle, she shouldn’t be pulling out her phone and using a translating app that could translate from a picture. But that was how it happened.

The original Russian read:

“моя дорогая милая дочь, в день твоего рождения ангелы плакали от радости, потому что ты несешь свет на землю. вы будете путешествовать по миру, видеть все и знать все. моя любовь всегда будет с тобой, защищать тебя в твоих приключениях по жизни.”

Which translated into something like “My dear sweet daughter, on the day you were born the angels wept with joy for you would bring light on earth. you will travel the world and see all things and know all things. My love will always be with you, protecting you on your adventure through life.”

But why would her father, Eve was certain it was her father because it was the same handwriting as on the front of the crib where he had carved her name, write that if he hadn’t cared about her? Villanelle had made it seem like her father had hated her, that he hadn’t loved her, but this proved that he did. Had Villanelle even seen this?

Eve gently slid the panel back into place and pulled the crib into the bedroom, if Villanelle knew it was there she wouldn’t want Eve to have read it, and if she didn’t she would find it on her own at another time.

When she had finished she tiptoed down the stairs to eavesdrop on Villanelle and her mom’s conversation.

“-but you will only be 41, are you sure you could do that? Eve head her mother ask, hearing only the end of the question.

“I know you must be worried about the age difference, but you have nothing to fear, in 16 years when Eve is 57 and I’m 41, I will still love her as much as I do today, maybe even more, she is mine and I have no intention of letting her go” Villanelle said with passion in her voice.

So that was what her mother had been worried about, when their child was 16 years old Villanelle would be Eve’s age and Eve would be almost 60, it was a weird thought, Villanelle in her 40’s and her almost in her 60´s. Villanelle didn’t seem like the type of person who aged, in all honesty she seemed like the kind of person who died before she turned 28 and left only the memory of a young beautiful girl behind. It was hard picturing her being Eve’s age.

But it did spark an insecurity in Eve, would Villanelle do as Eve had done? Leave for someone 16 years younger? No Villanelle only liked her women older than her, but how much older? Because Eve would age just like Villanelle, and by the time Eve was 60 Villanelle would only be 44, was the age gab too big by then? or worse, when Eve turned 70 Villanelle would be 54, she would be middle-aged and putting her wife, or girlfriend or whatever, in a retirement home along with their daughter, she could see it now.

She would be 70, in her wheelchair, because her knees were already hurting and it was only downhill from here, and Villanelle and their daughter, in her mind they were having a girl, would drive her out to some facility and a well-meaning but overbearing caretaker would say to her 29 year-old daughter that putting her “Grandma” in a home was for the best. And Eve would be to senile to care but Villanelle would get angry and say in a haughty voice that Eve was her wife and the mother of their child. And the caretaker would be tongue-tied and embarrassed, but Eve would be used it because so many people would have assumed by then, that she was their daughter’s grandmother and that Villanelle was the mother, which she was but still so was Eve.  

Eve was brought out of her nightmare when she heard Villanelle’s genuine laugh from the living room.

She could do this, it wouldn’t matter that there was 16 years between them, which meant that Eve technically was old enough to be Villanelle’s mother, or that people stare when they’d bring their child to school or anything else, all that mattered was that they were together, that the three of them would be a family.     


	14. who's your daddy?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To Russia with love.

Konstantin was a patient man, he had to be in order to work with Villanelle. She was, to put it lightly, a lot.

Villanelle was like a daughter to him, she was just as annoying as his real daughter anyway, but the thing about Villanelle was that unlike with his daughter, whenever he wasn’t looking directly at her he was worried about her. Irina was a clever girl who was well-behaved and thoughtful. Villanelle was focused, skilled but very reckless. And that was making him loose what was left of his hair, Carolyn had noticed.

He was on a plane right now, going back into the shark infected waters, for Villanelle, after being admitted to the hospital her father had found her, and he was not a very good man, it would be better for everyone if he hadn’t found his youngest daughter, but here he was flying to Moscow with a deal, he had had to beg Carolyn for, for the feared crime boss Illya Astankov.

The deal was that MI6 would make KGB back off of him, and in return he would never try to contact Oksana. Konstantin wasn’t sure Illya would take it, but hoped he had self-preservation enough to accept that he would never see his middle child again. He still had the two others anyway, the oldest had to children of her own now and the youngest was on his way to becoming a nuclear physicist. So really, what need had he of Oksana?

Konstantin downed the mini bottle of complementary Vodka the flight attendant had given him. He hated Illya with a passion. There was so much Villanelle didn’t know or didn’t remember about her mother.

She didn’t know that her mother had wanted to become a Doctor, to help people, but Illya had refused to let her return to school after they got married.

She didn’t know that her mother had had a light inside her that he’d thought could never be put out, but a year into her marriage her eyes had gone cold and dead.

She didn’t know that her mother, Irina, had been Konstantin’s best friend and first girlfriend.

She didn’t know that Illya had beat the ever-loving shit out of Irina when he’d found a picture of Konstantin and her in her diary.

She didn’t know that Konstantin and Irina had carried on having an affair throughout her marriage and Konstantin honestly didn’t know if he was Villanelle’s father or not.

She didn’t know had he had taken some hairs from her brush for a DNA test, but he hadn’t sent them in, he was afraid to know the answer, he was afraid that he wasn’t her father.

She didn’t know that Irina had made Konstantin her Godfather and Gaudian in the event of her death, or that Illya had paid someone a lot of money to loose her Will.

She didn’t remember that Illya had shot Irina in the head, right in the kitchen, with the children asleep at the dinner table.

His first stop after getting off the plane was his home, he needed to get his family out in case this went south. He had moved them back into the house after being sure that Villanelle wouldn’t kill them.

His wife hadn’t liked England and had been delighted to go back. His wife, Helena was an odd bird in a way, she had actually liked Villanelle, despite her kidnapping their daughter and shooting her husband. She had said that Villanelle was a true Russian and she wouldn’t blame her for that. Sometimes he felt guilty about cheating on his wife, but then he remembered, that she was cheating too and was it really cheating if they were both doing it? Their arrangement was that they’d stay together till Irina was 18. That way they didn’t mess up her childhood by getting divorced.

And now he had to go tell them that they were moving back to England because Villanelle’s father might retaliate and try to till them, and honestly he knew Irina would love going back to England.

When he unlocked the door he was met by shouting. Something about a boy?

He entered the kitchen to find his wife and daughter yelling at each other.

“Good you are here, tell your daughter to stop behaving like a little slut” Helena insisted.

“Eh what?”

Irina turned to Konstantin with pleading eyes.

“Papa she is exaggerating, it was one kiss!”

“Both of you stop! What is going on?” he asked confused and angry, he didn’t have time for this.

“Irina snuck out, on a school night, and when she returned I saw her kissing a boy on the patio” Helena explained.

Konstantin sighed.

“Irina I hoped you enjoyed it, no more kissing boys until you are 30” He said.

“But girls are okay then?” She asked with a smirk that she no doubt copied from Villanelle.

Konstantin thought for a second, girls couldn’t get her pregnant, but from what he saw with Eve and Villanelle they could still make you do crazy shit.

“No girls until you are 18, now go pack we are going to London for a while” He said waving her off.

Helena looked at him angrily.

“No”

“Irina go pack” he said, and Irina hurried away.

“I’m not going” Helena said.

“Illya Astankov" Konstantin simply said.

Helena nodded but stood her ground.

“It will be someone, eventually, so it doesn’t matter if it is him or someone else out to get revenge. I’m tired of moving every time you show up here.” She explained.

And he had to give it to her, he had moved them from safehouse to safehouse a lot.

“Helena please, I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you, you are the mother of my child”

“one of the things I have always loved about you is that you put your family first, that is why I wont ask you to chose between you wife or your children, take Irina to England, I know that she will be safe there, but I am staying.” She gently explained.

 _Children_.

“Helena- I-“

“You said her name you know? Sometimes in your sleep, you would call me Irina, I let you name our daughter that because it is also my grandmother’s name, but I know why you insisted on Irina.”

“I don’t know if Oksana is mine” He admitted.

“I think she is, when she tied me up she kept talking to me and she has your mannerism, from when you were younger, she –“

“She looks like her mother”

“She has the same cheekbones as you and Irina”

“I’m sorry Helena”

“Don’t be, you’ve always wanted more that one child and after the complications with Irina’s birth I was so sad that I couldn’t give it to you, but knowing that you have two strong-willed, beautiful girls makes me happy, Konstantin, I am happy for you.”

“What did I ever do to deserve you?” He asked, accepting that she really wasn’t going with him.

Helena laughed.

“No I think I did something bad to deserve you.”

He laughed with her, she didn’t mean it, but she was right.

They heard Irina stomping down the stairs, she really needed to learn not to do that.

Helena wiped away a few tears and turned towards Irina when she entered the kitchen.

“Papa needs to take care of something first, so you and I will go out for lunch and a bit of mother daughter time before we meet him at the airport” Helena explained. Not a total lie.

Irina looked back and forth between them before nodding.

Konstantin hugged Helena, deeply, he was never in love with her, but she was the mother of his child and he did love her.

They looked at each other of a few second, this would more than likely be the last time they saw one another.

“Agh you guys are gross” Irina broke the moment.

The adults laughed a bit, before Konstantin pulled away and went to leave.

“See you later papa” Irina called as he walked out of the door.

Now for the hard part.

Finding Illya Astankov wasn’t hard, he didn’t hide from anyone. He was eating clams at his favourite restaurant in the heart of Moscow.

 _God I’m stupid_ Konstantin thought as he entered the restaurant, not knowing if he’d walk out alive.

He was stopped by two armed men from entering the VIP area where Illya was sitting.

“Illya Astankov” he yelled up to him, Illya spared him a brief glance before nodding to the assholes with the guns. They let him though.

“Konstantin, long time no see, sit down” He demanded

So Konstantin sat, it would be unwise to anger him unduly.

“Illya, my friend, how have you been?” He asked nicely, honey not vinegar as the Americans said.

“Good, good, I am a grandfather now” He replied pouring a glass of Vodka for Konstantin.

“A toast to that” Konstantin said accepting the glass.

They downed their glassed and Illya now looked more serious, the pleasantries were out of the way now.

“So Konstantin, why have you come to see me?” He asked while eating, no one looked terrifying while eating clams but he somehow managed.

“I have a deal for you” he said briefly.

Illya nodded.

“Explain”

“I work for some people, that can make the KGB drop their investigation into you and your business”

“And why would you do that?”

“Because the same people need you to leave Oksana alone” he said with a determined look in his eyes. 

Illya laughed humourlessly, Konstantin laughed too.

“But I am a family man Konstantin, who would I be if I gave up my own daughter?” He asked, there was a glint of something in his eyes.

“A family man who would shoot his own wife in front of his children?” Konstantin asked, and God he was stupid.

“Did you ever wonder why the children didn’t wake up at the gunshot?” Illya asked, maintaining eye contact with Konstantin.

And yes Konstantin had wondered that same thing years ago.

“I love my children Konstantin, but I loved Oksana the most, I saw so much of myself in her. From a young age she was determined, strong and just better. Her sister is weak, and her brother couldn’t kill a fly. But Oksana, she scared people and I was so proud of her, she never cried you know? Even when she was born, completely silent.” He paused for effect.

“Then one day Irina and I are fighting, she thinks it’s unfair that Oksana is the only one who gets my attention, so she hotly says that I should focus on my own children instead. I thought nothing of it at the time, but the thought stayed with me.”

“Illya, it this story long? Should I order food?” Konstantin asked, knowing where he was going with this.

“Don’t interrupt Konstantin, it is rude. So I got some DNA from all the children to test and what do you know? Oksana, my favourite child is not, the child whom I see so much of myself in, is not mine. Naturally I’m angry.”

“Naturally” Konstantin mumbles. Illya could be lying.

“So I confront Irina about it and after some conversing she admits that she has been having an affair with her best friend konstantin Vasiliev”

“…” Konstantin didn’t know what to say.

“I go out to drink, my beloved wife had been cheating on me after all, and when I come home I see my children asleep at the dinner table, drugged, and my wife with her bags packed about to leave with her daughter, afraid I would kill them. So I shoot the fraudulent, faithless woman in the head, and I am about to shoot her child too when she looks up at me with confused eyes and calls me _Otets_ , Konstantin she called me _Father_ like my children do. And I thought what would hurt Irina the most? If I killed her or if I simply neglected her? So Oksana went from being my favourite to my punching bag and when the police came I made sure you wouldn’t get her either.” He explained his villainous plan.  

Konstantin felt like he had been shot again, Oksana was his daughter, Illya had know and kept her from him. He felt his anger rise.

“Then you have nothing to lose, a daughter who isn’t yours against doing your business without worrying about the KBG” Konstantin reasoned.

“But I do like tormenting you and my dear late wife” Illya was a despicable man.

“You come to my restaurant, to buy your daughters freedom”

Konstantin took a deep breath.

“Yes I do, you will never get near my daughter and the KGB wont touch you”

Illya nodded thoughtfully.

“If I hear so much as a whisper that the KGB is moving on me I will kill your daughter”

“If you ever move on Oksana I will kill you myself”

They laughed, they’d reached an agreement.

Konstantin left without too much fanfare, it would do Illya no good to kill him now after all.

He met up with his wife and daughter, youngest daughter, God that was weird. At the airport.

They said their goodbyes and Irina and Konstantin boarded the plane.

A few hours into the plane ride Irina pokes at Konstantin.

“Papa, is it true that Villanelle is my sister?” she asked.

“Did your mother tell you that?”

She shook her head.

“I heard you talking in the kitchen”

So she had been spying, that little devil.

“You can’t tell her, not yet” He insisted.

Irina nodded, she had always wanted a sister.            


	15. I wanna make up my mind. But I don't know myself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Therapy...

Back in London it was Monday again, which meant it was time for Villanelle’s first therapy session with Martin or whatever his name was. She was dreading it, she’d always hated doctors, of any kind. But she had to keep her job with MI6 and Carolyn demanded that she see a therapist.

Eve had been supportive of her, knowing how hard it was for her to open up, especially to a stranger.

So she had decided to wait for Villanelle at a café while she had her session.

The office Villanelle entered was a very natural one, the colours were white, and tan and the décor was horrendous. Villanelle already didn’t like this place.

“Name” asked a rude, ugly, secretary when Villanelle walked up to the desk.

Villanelle sneered.

“He is expecting me”

“No entrance until I verify you”

Villanelle was already on edge here, did this dumb fucking _spoon_ not know how much it had taken for her to just come here? Villanelle wanted her to die violently, she wanted to see her blood drip down on the keyboard she kept typing on. Eve should have come with her.  

“Emma, let her through” Martin said from the doorway.

The _spoon_ huffed and waved her forward with a motion of her hand.

“Thank you” she said in the poshest accent she could.

When she entered she took a seat in what she assumed to be Martin’s chair, leaving the couch for him to sit on, which he did without comment.     

“Do you want me to call you Villanelle or Oksana?” He asked as he sat down.

Villanelle didn’t answer.

“Oksana was your birth name right? Your innocent name?” he continued “If Oksana is innocent, then what is Villanelle?”  

“You can call me whatever you like” Villanelle replied without answering.

Martin nodded.

“But which do you prefer, Villanelle or Oksana?” He asked.

Villanelle thought for a moment, Oksana had been weak she had been weak with her family, she had been weak with Anna and Villanelle had replaced her when she had needed strength, Villanelle had been ruthless, and strong, a survivor. Villanelle didn’t feel things however, she had no need of empathy or compassion or least of all, love. Villanelle had been Oksana’s saviour… but now there wasn’t really a need for Villanelle anymore, at least not in the way she had been needed before. Oksana had been saved, this time by Eve. Oksana was becoming stronger, Eve was making her stronger.

“Oksana?” Villanelle asked

“Was that a question?”

“No, Oksana, you may call me Oksana” Villanelle said.

“It is nice to meet you Oksana” Martin said kindly.

Villanelle nodded.

“So tell me, why do you think you are here today?” He asked.

“Carolyn is making me”

He hummed.

“How is she making you”

“I need to be here to keep my job, and if I lose my job I will lose Eve, that can’t happen”

“Are you afraid to lose Eve?” he asked.

Villanelle was about answer but paused, was she afraid to lose Eve? Eve was hers, and she was Eve’s. her every action and thought belonged to Eve. Eve who knew what she was but loved her regardless.

It was like they were both on a leash, connected to each other, but the leash stretched around the world, giving them as much space as they could ever need. No one looked at her the way Eve did, with such love and devotion. So she would let Eve have everything she could ever want, she could take it with out asking and it would only make Oksana love her more. She could not say no to Eve. She could not lose Eve’s love, she could not lose Eve.

“Yes”

He wrote something down. That was when it hit Villanelle, he would report everything she said to Carolyn.

“You report back to her don’t you? To Carolyn” she asked.

Martin paused for a moment before replying.

“She would like to know what you’ve said yes, but I am bound by my oath to keep everything you say in here confidential.”

Villanelle was torn, should she believe him? She decided to be cautious but continued.

“So, tell me Doc Martin… how does this work? I come to you once a month and you cure me?” Villanelle asked.

“Martin is just fine Oksana, no you actually come here twice a month and then we see if you need more sessions than that. And I have no intention of curing you Oksana, that’s not what I’m paid for.”

“So, if your not here to cure me, than what?”

“I am someone you can talk to, when you feel that you cant talk to Eve or Konstantin, you can come talk to me, I won’t judge, and I won’t really have an opinion about your situation. You can talk freely to me” He replied patiently.

“So, I just come here, and I talk to you? That is fine with Carolyn?” Villanelle asked confused.    

“This isn’t about Carolyn, Oksana this is about you”

Villanelle nodded, talking was something she could do, she could talk about nothing for hours.

But what she didn’t know was that Martin always said this to his difficult patients, because once they felt that they were in charge and could talk about anything, they did and more often than not ended up revealing more about themselves than they realised.

“So tell me Oksana, do you ever think about the future?”

“Yes”

“What do you want your future to be?”

Villanelle sighed, she couldn’t tell him the truth, that Eve was pregnant and that she wanted her future to be with her, with them.

“Don’t tell me, just close your eyes, take a deep breath and imagine it” She heard him say.

She complied and then she saw it.

She was making pancakes in the kitchen at the house, it had thankfully been remodelled, behind her she heard laughter as she turned around she saw Eve siding at the table tickling their daughter, the girl was maybe 4 years old and looked like Eve, her features were a bit more Caucasian but she had Eve’s intelligent eyes and amazing hair. The girl looked up at Villanelle.

“Mama are the pancakes done?” she asked impatiently, like Villanelle would have.

Eve laughed softly.

“Odessa, you need to be more patient with Mama, everything takes a bit longer now” she softly scolded the girl.

‘Odessa’ Villanelle thought, she had always loved the name Odessa, it came from Odyssey and meant ‘Journey’ but in Greek it could also mean Wrathful, and that made her proud.

As Villanelle turned to get the now finished plate of pancakes she caught her reflection in the window and saw it. The undeniable growth on her abdomen, the parasite. It wasn’t huge, maybe 4 months, but it was there.

Villanelle opened her eyes and shot up from the chair.

“I need to go, I eh forgot to feed my dishwasher” She said while practically running out of the office.

She ran and ran until she reached the Café Eve had said she would be at, but she stopped herself before entering.

What the hell was that? She had been pregnant in her vision. She barely even wanted one child let alone to get pregnant herself. And she had seemed happy about it. No she couldn’t do this, her father would laugh if he could see how soft she had become, and for what? For a woman?

She took a step backwards and stepped out of view of the café. She had to leave, this was becoming too much, she wasn’t made for this. She was made to kill and maim and not feel any remorse. Not to have a happy family life with her wife and two children. She had seen where that lead, her mother dead on the kitchen floor, her father drinking himself into oblivion and her sister leaving her.

No Villanelle didn’t do family.

She ran and ran and ran, until she couldn’t run anymore, she was at King’s Cross, she had money and a passport, she could get on a train and never come back.

She gracelessly collapsed onto a bench, she thought about Eve, about Eve panicking when she realised Villanelle had left therapy, upset, and not returned. Eve begging Carolyn to let her look for her. Eve first being scared that something had happened to her, then relieved that she was okay, then angry that Villanelle had left of her own, then sad when she realised that Villanelle wasn’t coming back.

Villanelle had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t noticed the figure sitting next to her.

“You know, sad people are often the ones that feel the most” Irina said.

“Irina? How did you get here? Also fuck off” Villanelle asked surprised.

“Papa had to go to work, and I wanted to see the city, then I saw you sitting on a bench crying” She said.

“I am not crying” Villanelle angrily insisted but raised her hand to wipe away a few tears anyway.

“… so is everything okay?” she asked gently, her sister was a difficult person.

“No, I saw you coming, and you were so ugly that I wept” Villanelle tried to brush it off.

“So you admit it! You were crying”

“My eyes were trying to cleanse themselves after seeing you”  

Irina rolled her eyes.

“Is it about your wife?”

“Eve isn’t my wife.”

“But you want her to be… but you are scared aren’t you?” and fuck why did Irina have to be so insightful.

“Where is your fat mother? Did she not fit on the plane” Villanelle asked simply to be hurtful.

Irina shrugged.

“Stop deflecting”

“I am not!”

Irina didn’t say anything, and they sat in silence for a little while.

“Papa has banned me from kissing boys till I’m 30 and girls till I’m 18” Irina said out of the blue.

“You won’t kiss anyone looking like that, are you a boy or a girl?” Villanelle asked

Once more Irina just shrugged.

“Does it matter? I am Irina Vasiliev, it doesn’t matter if you call me a boy or girl, I will still be Irina Vasiliev”  

Villanelle nodded.

“Irina, you can be any gender you like. But dressing as ugly as you do is homophobic, almost a hate crime” Villanelle said dramatically.

“Fine then take me shopping, buy me something better” Irina insisted.

And from the look on her sister’s face that was just the distraction she needed. Irina made Villanelle text Eve that she and Irina was going shopping and not to worry about her. Eve had asked where Villanelle had run into Irina, but she hadn’t replied to the text.

The next few hours were some of the best in Irina’s life. They had gone to several high-end shops and gotten a lot of outfits that were pretty gender natural, Villanelle was unsurprising good at that, she had demanded Irina try on a lot of different outfits, but she had such good taste that almost every single set was bought.

They ended the trip at McCann Bespoke, one of the best tailors in London.

“Villanelle, what are we doing here?” Irina stopped them before entering  

“Irina you are 11 years old now-“

“I’m 14”

“Don’t interrupt me, it’s rude.”

“You were saying”

“Right, before I was so rudely interrupted- You are 14 years old now and any young ‘sometimes boy, sometimes girl’ needs a great suit for special occasions. So we will get you fitted and get you one” Villanelle explained and if you hadn’t known that Villanelle was a psycho that liked to chop the nob off of men then she would honestly seem like the nicest person ever. But then again nice is different than good.

Irina hadn’t been paying attention as they entered but suddenly a man in a well-tailored suit stood in front of her.

“My sist- sorry that was really gender specific- my sibling needs a suit” Villanelle said in a sweet, a bit old fashioned, British accent. The kind you’d get from watching the first seasons of Coronation street.  

Villanelle didn't know that they were sisters? did she? or was she simply trying to make up an excuse for why Irina would come into a shop like that with a 10 years older woman without being creepy.

The man nodded and began asking Irina a lot of questions, which she didn’t answer. Villanelle took over and asked him to tailor it to both allow growth and to hide and feminine curves that may appear. The man agreed and put a test suit onto Irina and began measuring and moving pins and such. When the whole ordeal was over and done Villanelle had ordered two fully bespoke suits, one in burgundy and one in midnight blue, at the sum of 6400£.

Right before they left Irina couldn’t stop herself from embracing her sister.

“Thank you Oksana, it means so much to me” She mumbled into the embrace.

Villanelle was taken aback, both from the hug and from Irina calling her Oksana. But she quickly recovered and gently hugged her back for a few seconds before pushing her away.

They got a cab back to Konsanatin’s new flat in London, MI6’s more likely. Right before stepping out of the car, hand still on the door handle, Irina turned to Villanelle.

“Whatever you were crying about, whatever you were running from. Don’t run, face it. Eve loves you and you love her. just talk to her, it’s okay to be scared sometimes and to feel like giving up. But you have something to loose now Oksana, don’t lose her.”

She left the car with out giving Villanelle a chance to reply.

After a few seconds the cab driver looked at her.

“Where to ma’am?”

“Home” Villanelle replied and gave him the address, it wasn’t Eve’s place anymore, it was home.   


	16. you used to call me on my cell phone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ringtones...?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shot chapter, i've been working a lot and my Word broke :(  
> but here you go, more coming soon :D

When Villanelle entered the house, she spotted Eve on the couch with a work file and a cup of tea.

“Hey” Eve said without looking up from the file.

She sounded mad.

“Hey Eve, I am sorry I left therapy” Villanelle said as she walked up to the couch.

Standing behind it she reached down and ran her fingers through Eve’s hair, she smiled at bit as Eve leaned backwards into her touch.

Eve hummed but didn’t reply, she simply kept reading.

“So what are you reading?” Villanelle asked trying to read over Eve’s shoulder.

“A Japanese assassin operating in Germany, supposedly with a German partner, taking out left wing politicians… nothing we are too concerned about, Carolyn just wanted me briefed”

“A Japanese and a German, all you’d need is an Italian and you’d have an Axis of evil” Villanelle joked.

“did you really just make a World War two joke?” Eve asked, amused.

“Too soon?”

This caused Eve to laugh for real, Villanelle was funny.

“Anyway I think I might know who you are referring to, the Japanese is a woman named Mai Nakamura and trust me if she is in Germany, she is with Mikkel and you better pray that they don’t have business in the UK”

“Are they that good?”

“If it is them, yes, they are a terrifying force, I heard a rumor that Mai once killed 5 people with a hairpin” Villanelle said in awe.

“That sounds fake” Eve replied

Villanelle nodded.

“But you never know. I once killed a man with the underwire of my bra” Villanelle said with a shrug.

“Why”

“Well it was at an embassy and I had gotten my period, I really didn’t wanna get vagina blood on my favorite plastic knife, so I improvised” she explained as she went around the couch to sit next to Eve.

And oh right, Eve remembered now, she was dating a legit assassin, someone who killed people for a living.

“On that note, how was therapy?” Eve asked

Villanelle shrugged and looked away.

“Baby?”

“It was fine”

“Then why did you leave?”

Villanelle thought for a second, she couldn’t say that she left therapy because she was scared of wanting a family with Eve, a family with more than one child.

“I think he is reporting what I say to Carolyn” Villanelle said instead.

Eve nodded thoughtfully, that seemed possible.

“So you left and bumped into Irina?”

“ _Bumped_?” Villanelle asked with a smile, she didn’t know that expression.

“Yeah, you know, you ran into her” Eve explained, sometimes she forgot that English wasn’t Villanelle first language, it wasn’t even her second.

Villanelle leaned into her, angling her body to fit perfectly against Eve.

“Yes, I ran into her at the station”

“What were you doing at the station?” Eve asked.

“I wanted to go to Piccadilly, to shop” Villanelle lied. Well sort of lied.

“and?”

“Irina said that Konstantin had forbitten her from kissing both boys and girls, and I told her that they way she dressed was a hate crime and she would never date anybody looking like that”

“Oksana!”

“What?”

“She is 12, you don’t say that to a 12-year-old” Eve exclaimed.

“She is 14,” Villanelle corrected “And I got her clothes for 11.000£”  

“What?” Eve exclaimed again; this time clearly angry.

“Do you have any idea how much money that is? Like for real people? You can’t just go around spending that kind of money on a whim”

Villanelle pulled her body away from Eve, hating that she instantly felt cold and insecure.

“I do know how much money it is, but I also know that it is mine, and believe me it is hard earned. I spend it on Irina because I like her, because all of her clothes are girls’ clothes and she doesn’t always feel like a girl, she should have the freedom to dress however she feels, so that is what I gave her. 11.000£ isn’t a lot if it makes her feel normal and valid” Villanelle said defensively, she couldn’t even do something nice without Eve questioning her motives and actions.

Eve sighed and pulled Villanelle closer to her again.

“I’m sorry, it’s just a lot of money, but I know it’s yours and I should interfere with how you spend your money” Eve apologised.   

Villanelle shook her head and was about to say something when her phone rang.

It was Wannabe by Spice Girls, Kenny’s ringtone. Villanelle picked it up after three rings, she wanted him to know that she cared, just not too much.

“This better be important” was all she said as she answered the call.

Loud music was blaring in the background, the kind of pop-ish pretentious music they played in upscale clubs of the west end.

There was a rattling sound, bracelets, someone had moved their hand to get to the phone.

“Eh is this Bitch?” a drunk southern accent asked through the phone

“What?” Villanelle replied ready to commit murder, well she’d commit murder for a potato chip, but this time she meant it.

“I’m sorry” there was a giggle “Kenny’s got you listed as Bitch- will save your life, but only to complain about it” the girl explained and honestly, that was spot on.

Villanelle nodded before realising that the girl couldn’t see her.

“Fair, so why are you calling?”

“Yeah, eh that’s the thing” she stuttered.  

“If you don’t hurry up I will kill you with whatever knock off stilettos you are wearing” Villanelle threatened, meaning it.

“Kenny’s got arrested, for eh assault and public indecency”

Villanelle laughed, a full on belly laugh.

“You know his mother is in th-“

“That’s why I can’t call her” the girl said.

“So what do you need me for?”

“I ‘don’t know? Get him out? Get him a lawyer?” the girl suggested.  

After finding out where he was being held Villanelle hung up and looked at Eve with a smile.

“What?” Eve asked

“We are picking Kenny up from prison”

Eve looked bamboozled.

“Prison? Our Kenny?”

“Yep” Villanelle said popping the P.

“Why?”

“Assault and public indecency” Villanelle simply answered.

 “Alright let’s go” Eve got up from the couch and went to put on some clothes.

When they were in the car, Eve driving, she couldn’t help it.

“What’s mine?” she asked

“your?” Villanelle replied confused.

“Ringtone, Kenny’s is Wannabe, so what’s mine?” Eve asked.

Without hesitation Villanelle leaned in and whispered/sang to Eve.

“When you put your arms around me I get a fever that's so hard to bear. You give me fever, when you kiss me. Fever when you hold me tight. Fever in the morning.' A fever all through the night”

“Fever, really, that’s my song?” Eve asked, a bit amused.

“Are you mad?” Villanelle tried to seem indifferent, but she worried.

“What, no, it’s sweet, just not what I expected” Eve tried to explain.

“What did you expect?” Villanelle asked.

Eve briefly looked at her before turning her gaze back on the road.

“Something more bad ass, Billie Eilish maybe” Eve said.

Villanelle relaxed more now, and smiled.

“Nope, just good old Peggy Lee”

They drove a bit more before it hit Eve.

“wait does everyone have their own ringtone?”

This time Villanelle laughed.

“Yes”

“Uhh, tell me” Eve urged.

“Well what do you want to know?” Villanelle asked.

“Konstantin?” Eve asked. She had barely gotten the word out before Villanelle began giggling, straight up giggling, and looked out of the window.

“Now you have to tell me” Eve was getting more and more curious by the second.

Villanelle sang something in a quiet voice Eve couldn’t hear.

“You have to speak up”

“RA RA RASPUTIN LOVER OF THE RUSSIAN QUEEN, there was a cat that really was gone. RA RA RASPUTIN RUSSIAS GREATES LOVE MACHINE, it was a shame how he carried on” Villanelle all but shouted.

Eve almost drove them both into a tree, from chock and laughter.  It seemed to spur Villanelle on.

“Carolyn’s is Lesley Gore’s You dont own me”

“That’s fitting” Eve said.

“Hugo?” Eve asked after a second.

Villanelle stared at her for a second before replying, in the haughtiest tone Eve had ever heard, that Hugo didn’t have one.

Before Eve could ask anything else the GPS told them that they had arrived at their destination. The jail in which Kenny was being detained.  


	17. We need to talk about Kenny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prison jokes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a comment if you found the quotes :P

Once they were inside Villanelle put on a southern accent, to match Kenny’s friends and walked confidently up to the officer sitting at the desk.

“Hello I’m here for Kennedy Stowton” she said politely.

Eve looked at Villanelle weirdly.

“She means Kenny Stowton” She explained.

“No, she got it right the first time” the officer said without looking up from his magazine, it was US weekly.

“Kennedy?” Eve asked and looked at Villanelle.

“I got him really drunk during our trip to Denmark and he admitted that Carolyn had named him Kennedy” Villanelle explained, amused.

“Anyway we are here to pay his bail” Eve said.

The officer finally looked up.

“He hasn’t been charged, so he can’t be bailed out” he explained flatly.

“Then let him go, if you haven’t charged him” Eve demanded.

“Sorry lady, we can hold him for 24 hours without a charge, 14 days if the higher ups decide he looks like a terrorist” he said before returning to his magazine.

“Do you know who his mum is?” Eve said, playing the MI6 card.

The officer let out an amused huff and nodded.

“Why do you think they are keeping him? The old bat must have pissed someone off.”

Eve was fuming she looked back to Villanelle who was texting, she seemed calm, almost indifferent.

“Elliot, that’s your name right? Elliot Weiss?” She asked the officer, Elliot, from where she stood behind Eve.

“What’s it to you?” He asked.

“To me? Nothing, but I represent a certain mutual acquaintance of ours, back from Bristol, an Easter Dave” Villanelle smiled as the blood drained from Elliot’s face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” he insisted.

“Maybe you don’t, or maybe I should call him just to make sure. I don’t remember how you got out, were you the one who stole all that money” she said while visibly typing a number into her phone.

“Stop please, I have children” he begged.

“Oh don’t worry, I hear Easter Dave _loves_ the little children” she joked.

“I’ll let your friend go, just please don’t call Easter Dave” he pleaded.

Villanelle put her phone down and nodded.

“Alright then, go get Kennedy”

The officer sighed and walked through the door behind him.

The moment he was gone Eve turned to Villanelle.

“How the fuck did you know that?”

Villanelle shrugged.

“His accent was Bristol and thru his shirt you could see and old gang tattoo, Easter Dave has ruled Bristol for 20 years so I guessed”

“But how did you know about this Easter Dave thing?”

“Eve baby, you are so sweet and innocent sometimes. I’ve paid off the big English crime bosses to not interfere with my work, let me work on their territory and look the other way if I happen to kill one of theirs” Villanelle said in a condescending voice as if she was explaining geometry to a toddler.

That reminded her, she needed to make an appointment to find out the sex of the baby.

Not a minute after Elliot came out thru a different door with Kenny, who was wearing a sequenced dress, sneakers and had vomit and blood down the front of the baby blue dress.

Eve just stared while Villanelle laughed.

When he came closer Eve could smell him. He smelled like cheap alcohol, regrets and desperation, he smelled like Florida.      

“Hey Slut, how was jail?” Villanelle asked once he was released.    

“Holding, not jail” Kenny corrected still shamefully looking down.

“So he’s ours now?” Eve asked while signing the papers.

Elliot nodded as he accepted the papers from her.

“so what is a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?” Villanelle joked while they were walking out.

“how long are you going to be like this?” Kenny asked.

“until you answer me, were you someone’s prison bitch? It is okay to find a big strong prison wife-or-husband to keep you safe in the yard”

Eve laughed at their antics while walking behind them to the car. She couldn’t figure out why Oksana liked Kenny, she should have annoyed him and he should be terrified of her. But here they were, and embarrassed hungover Kenny and Oksana hanging onto his arm telling wild stories about Russia.

“So I regain consciousness, there are cops everywhere, I’m covered in blood, got an ice pick sticking out of my foot...It was kind of a weird Thursday” Villanelle finished.

“that story began with you going to get cigarettes…” Kenny said confused.

“I know! That is why I quit, speaking of… how come you go out in drag, get drunk and get in a bar fight without me?” she asked sounding a bit hurt.

Kenny took a deep breath, his expression got a bit tenser like he had to defend himself.

“I was drinking with some friends and someone dared me and a girl to switch clothes for the evening, said they’d buy us drinks if we did.”

“So you switched?” Eve asked having caught up to them.

“Yeah, and Peter did buy us drinks, a lot of them. Then this drunk guy comes up to me and starts hitting on me”

“And what did my Bi-Baby do?” asked Villanelle.

Kenny shot her a look.

“I turned him down but he persisted, I gave him a light shove but he was drunk and fell… then his friends intervened…”

“Go on” Eve urged.

“They weren’t as drunk as him and saw that I was a fella, so they called me a fairy and began hitting me”

“Did you break their elbows like I taught you?” Villanelle asked seriously.

Kenny nodded, he managed to break one of their elbows, he was a bit proud of that.

“That explains the fight, but the public nudity”

Kenny blushed.

“They called me a tranny so I showed them my ‘massive dong’ I believe I called it”

To everyone’s surprise Villanelle leaned in and hugged him tight, I took a second but he eventually hugged back.

“I’m proud of you” She said as they broke apart.

“Come on my crime family, let’s go, Kenny you are sleeping over” Eve said and opened her car door.

Villanelle got in the passenger seat and Kenny got in the back.  

Villanelle and Kenny bicker the entire drive home and Eve thinks about her life and her choices and what has lead her here, to this moment in time.

Once they are finally home Villanelle insists on making popcorn and watching How to train your dragon 3, she is oddly into children’s movies.   

Kenny was exhausted and fell asleep before they even found the hidden world, Villanelle got up, went to the kitchen and when she returned she carefully placed a slice of salami on his forehead. Eve smiled to herself, no matter how adorable Oksana was it should never be forgotten that it the very core of her soul, she is a dick.

Villanelle went to bed while Eve covered Kenny with a blanket and left him on the couch. She turned off the tv and all of the lights and went upstairs to join Villanelle in bed.

Once there she found Villanelle under the covers, watching the rest of the movie on her phone.

“Hey baby, what a day huh?” Eve asked while undressing.

Villanelle nodded and put the phone away.

“I am glad Kenny is okay” She said.

“I didn’t know you worried about him” Eve replied.

Villanelle shrugged, she didn’t know what to say. She liked Kenny, not like she liked Eve or Konstantin or even Irina. But she did like him, there was something innocent about him. He is like a puppy”

“You don’t like dogs” Eve pointed out.

“Nah, but I like Emus, he is like a baby emu”

Eve laughed, God that was the perfect description of Kenny.

“Eve?” Villanelle asked after a second.

“Yeah?”

“Can I come with you for the next baby scan? To see if it’s a boy or a girl?” Villanelle asked shyly.

Eve nodded.

“Of course Oksana, you don’t have to ask. God, I don’t even know how far along I am anymore”

“Around 19 weeks, so you are due for another scan” Villanelle supplied.

“Yeah seems about right, God it won’t be long before I can’t the belly anymore” there was a bit of tension to her voice, sure she wanted the baby but she hated being pregnant. Next time Oksana could do it…

“…Eve…?”

“Yeah?”

“You zoned out, I asked if you wanted a boy or a girl… and don’t give me that healthy baby bullshit” Villanelle said in a soft tone while stroking the belly.    

Eve thought for a few seconds before responding.

“Boy, I think I’d want a boy” She finally said.

Villanelle hummed.

“What will you name him?”

“I was thinking we’d name him Theodore or Sebastian” Eve said thoughtfully.

“Sebastian is a servant name” Villanelle replied.

“Theodore it is then” Eve smiled.

“…And if it is a girl?” Villanelle asked.

Eve shrugged.

“I hadn’t really thought about that, any suggestions?”

“Odessa”

“Odessa? Like the city?” Eve asked.

“A lot of places has girls’ names; it was a name before it was a city” Villanelle defended.

And wow, she was really passionate about this Eve noted.

“Odessa it is then”

“Polastri?” Villanelle asked.

Eve sighed, God she was tired.

“I don’t know baby, we will cross that bridge when we get to it, for now just sleep” she pleaded.

The next day was a blur, Eve made an appointment for the following day with the doctor, Kenny woke up with 19 zits on his forehead and Villanelle was grumpy after the way their conversation ended last night.

Work was so dull that no one noticed that Kenny was missing, not even Carolyn, it was sad honestly.

Konstantin was avoiding Villanelle like the plague and Hugo was being a twat.

The most fun that happened all day was Kenny losing it dinner after Villanelles 12th prison joke.

“Why was the parrot in prison?” Villanelle asked.

“ I DON’T KNOW! I don’t know and I don’t bloody care! Oh my God Oksana, give it a break I spend 2 hours in holding and I’d rather shit in my hands and clap that hear one more prison joke” Kenny exploded.

“Because it was a jail-bird.” Finished looking him dead in the eye.

“Thank you for everything, and thanks for dinner” He said to Eve before promptly leaving the table, a few seconds later the door slammed.

“He doesn’t have a car” Eve pointed out.

“Tough shit, guess he’s walking then” was all Villanelle said.    


The next day however began with Eve waking up to the smell of decaf coffee and pancakes coming from the kitchen.

Their appointment was at 11 so Villanelle had been up early to shower and make breakfast, she was giddy with excitement.

The entire drive she was like a hyperactive pupp-Emu.

The office was almost empty when they arrived, most people were at work right now. Eve was relieved it meant she could relax and not worry so much about Villanelle stabbing anyone.

“Miss Polastri” the doctor called.

They both got up and went with her to the exam room.

“It’s been a while” the doctor said while preparing Eve with the gel.

“I know and I am sorry, there has just been a lot lately” Eve apologized.    

“It’s okay, life sometimes gets in the way, let’s have a look at your little nugget” she said.

“Nugget?” Villanelle asked.

“the baby” the doctor replied as she placed the wand on Eve’s belly.

The room was silent for a few moments before the doctor spoke.

“Everything looks great. Would you like to know the sex of your baby?” she asked  

Both women nodded.

“Alright” she said and rearranged the wand.

“Congratulations, you are having a-“

“Wait” Eve all but screamed.

The doctor stopped dead in her tracks.

“I want it to be a surprise” she said.

The doctor smiled and nodded.

Villanelle scowled, she’d wanted to know. But Eve was the one who had to push a human out of her vagina so it was her call Villanelle decided.

Back in the waiting room Villanelle helped Eve with her coat and just as they were leaving the heard a shrill voice behind them.

“Eve?”

They looked at each other, neither turned but they both knew who the voice belonged to.

Gemma.     


	18. I'm in IKEA, rocking shades. I've been stuck in here for days.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eve and Villanelle in Ikea... well for a bit anyway :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait and the short chapter, i've started school again while working 4 jobs... so not a lot of time anymore. any mistakes are my own, we die like men. :P

Eve didn’t turn around to face her, luckily this was a women´s clinic that dealt with more that pregnancies, but Gemma would still find it odd to see her here, she would still tell Nico.

Villanelle turned instead, Eve couldn’t tell what her facial expression was, but her body was tense.

“Gemma hey” Villanelle said.

“Hey, eh what are you two doing here?” she asked.

“I´m getting tested, Eve would not have sex with me if I didn’t get tested… I’m clean by the way” Villanelle replied, taking one for the team. God Eve wanted to kiss her.

“Oh” was all Gemma could muster.

“Yes, now we must get going. Lots of sex to be had” Villanelle said loudly as she pulled Eve out of the building and away from Gemma.

Once they were in the car Eve broke down laughing. Villanelle send her a weird look but let out a light laugh at Eve absolutely losing it.

“That was the only thing you could think of” She asked when she’d finally calmed down a bit.

Villanelle shrugged and tried to look offended.

“Did you have any better ideas?” she asked slightly amused.

“No, but STD’s? at least you didn’t say that I had any”

“what no, I would not do that to you” Villanelle said taking Eve’s hand.

“So I was thinking…”

“Yes” Villanelle silently praying that it was a sex thing.

“We have the rest of the day off…”

In all honesty Eve should have known that taking villanelle to Ikea was a bad idea. But when she had mentioned that they needed to make the office in to a nursery and that meant more furniture than a crib, Villanelle had jumped at the chance to help, well after being promised a certain sexual act that Eve had refused her in the past. So here they were being detained by Ikea security.

Eve hadn’t been there for whatever Oksana had done or said in the cafeteria, she had been looking at baby things and had told her younger girlfriend to go get them some food while she wrote down the serial numbers for the items after Oksana had let out the tenth loud sigh in a row. Villanelle had happily complied and went off on her merry way. But somehow during the 15 minuets that had passed between Villanelle leaving and Eve entering the Cafeteria Villanelle had managed to get security called on them.

When the guard had grabbed Villanelle Eve made eye contact with her, willing her to stay calm and not kill the man. And it worked, but then Villanelle shouted out for Eve and another guard had brought her along too.

So here they were, backstage, in a small and smelly security office, lit up by computer screens and surrounded by junk food. But what really pissed Eve off, besides still being hungry, was that Villanelle had the audacity to smile at her while the guard was on hold calling the police.

“What did you do?” Eve hissed at Villanelle.

Villanelle smiled brightly at her but didn’t answer.  

The guard made eye contact with Eve and shook his head.

“Only one word really sums it up…sodomy” looking slightly disturbed at the thought.

“Do you really have to call the police?” Eve asked.

The Guard shrugged and was about to put the phone down when Villanelle let out a laugh.

“Your name is Earl? Oh God are you from Alabama Earl?”

“What? No I’m from Kent i- you know what you bloody twat I’m calling the police anyway”

Eve groaned and glared at Villanelle.

“Whatever you’d probably screw your own sister for a slice of cheese”

“I’m lactose intolerant” the Guard tried to defend himself.

Villanelle’s laugh was cruel this time and she said.

“That only makes it worse”

So the cops came and ended up bringing them to holding where Eve spend her one phone call on Carolyn, she needed to get them out of here before Villanelle grew bored and killed someone, or she killed Villanelle.

It took 3 hours before Carolyn showed up, Eve knew it was meant as a punishment.

“If I get you out of here Villanelle, you will stay hidden in the basement all of next week, we’ve got some government people coming by and I don’t want them to see you. You will also own me one additional favour” She stated standing right on the other side of the bars.

“I get the distinct feeling that you are ashamed of me” Villanelle replied.

Carolyn remained emotionless but nodded.

“Very much so”

“Pass” Villanelle said.

Without a word Carolyn turned on the spot preparing to walk away, when she heard a loud slapping sound from behind her.

“Fine, I will stay hidden next week and I will own you one favour” Villanelle said grudgingly while nursing a very red cheek.

While the paper work was being sorted Eve softly cupped the angry imprint of her hand on Oksana’s alabaster skin.

“I’m sorry I slapped you” Eve apologized, no excuse, just an apology.

Oksana leaned down and kissed Eve’s curly peach smelling hair.

“I forgive you. I liked it”

“Still, I shouldn’t have lost my temper like that”

“Eve it’s okay really, last time you lost your temper you stabbed me, this is an improvement” She joked. “Just promise me one thing?”

“Anything” Eve said.

“Next time you slap me around it better be in the bedroom”

Eve couldn’t help herself, she blamed it on the hormones but God if that didn’t turn her on. So she stood on the tiptoes and softly pressed her lips against her girlfriend’s.


End file.
